The Independent Ministerial Advisory Panel’s final report on the proposed Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill was released the same day, including 66 recommendations around the scheme.

The laws are set to come before both houses of parliament next month with politicians to have a conscience vote.

Mr Andrews said it was a “deeply personal issue” where people would have a lot of different views.

“I think over these coming weeks and months we need to have a respectful debate, which I’m confident that we can,” he said.

“In my personal judgement, the time has come for us to change these laws and to make sure that everybody's individual choices can be respected at the end of the their life. And if the choice is to end their suffering and their pain in a dignified way where there is proper checks and balances, proper accountability, then I think people should have that choice available to them.

“They don’t have that choice available to them now, and that’s why we see some truly horrific stories of people taking their own life, all sorts of really heart-wrenching stories. So I think we can do better, I think we can improve and update this law and I’ll be voting for it.”

Under the proposal, people with terminal illnesses could access lethal medication within 10 days of asking after going through a three-step request process.

It is expected that, at first, about 150 people a year will access assisted dying legislation in Victoria and that this would likely increase.

The advisory panel’s recommendations are consistent with the assisted dying framework outlined in the Parliamentary Committee’s Inquiry into End of Life Choices tabled last year.

“This has been done properly, a bit like this (Warrnambool’s) train line. You need to do this in a careful, methodical way. You get the planning right, the expert opinions, you draft properly and then you can make the change,” Mr Andrews said of the length of time it had taken to get to this point.

“That’s why I appointed the ministerial advisory group, that expert group. Their work is now complete… Then we’ll have a bill introduced into the parliament and people will be able to look at that in detail. There will be a debate in both chambers and then it will be up to individual MPs to vote their own conscience.

“But again, my conscience tells me that with appropriate safeguards, with the checks and balances, we have an opportunity to build the safest system in the world that provides people with a dignified end if that is what they choose.”

Professor Brian Owler, chair of the advisory panel and former president of the Australian Medical Association, has described the proposed laws as conservative and "distinctly Victorian".

"If anything we can be criticised for the burden it may place on someone that is dying," he said.

Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has stated she thinks there should be legislation around assisted dying.

“We have to protect the protectors,” she said last year.

– With THE AGE