The bill, created by Mersey independent MLC Mike Gaffney, has taken account of similar legislation which has been in operation for more than two decades.

There are 20 jurisdictions internationally with some form of legal voluntary assisted dying.

Sixteen of them are supported by legislation.

Dying With Dignity Tasmania president Margaret Sing said there were essentially two models: the US model, largely based on laws in Oregon, and the Canadian-European model.

She said the US model was the least effective in meeting patient needs and wishes.

Ms Sing said legislation in Canada was particularly relevant to Dying With Dignity's preferred legislation for Tasmania.

"There are too many issues with the Netherlands and Belgium laws in terms of political and cultural differences," she said.

"But Canada is so close to Australia - historically, culturally and with similarities with universal healthcare."

Ms Sing said a previous attempt in Tasmania to introduce assisted dying legislation was originally to be based on the Oregon model.

But she managed to convince then-premier Lara Giddings and then-Greens leader Nick McKim to follow what would become Canadian legislation.

The Canadian legislation was enacted in 2016.

The laws do not require a prognosis of death to occur within a specific time frame but for death to be "reasonably foreseeable" due to a patient's medical circumstances.

There is also a requirement for unbearable and intolerable suffering.

There is a choice for drugs to end a person's life to be administered by a doctor or nurse or by the patient themselves.

The laws allowed for 2614 assisted deaths between January and October in 2018.

This equated to 1.12 per cent of all deaths recorded in the country over that period.

Ms Sing said the Oregon legislation, introduced in 1997, required a prognosis of death within six months or less but did not include a requirement for intolerable suffering.

Drugs need to be administered by patients themselves orally.

Ms Sing said the laws had allowed for 1459 assisted deaths since 1997.

She said there were 143 assisted deaths in 2018 which represented 0.46 per cent of all deaths that year.

Ms Sing said the low ratio of assisted deaths showed the legislation had its problems.

"When you consider the aim of the legislation, that is nowhere near good enough," she said.

By comparison, the ratio of assisted dying deaths to all deaths in Belgium was 2.1 per cent and 4.4 per cent in the Netherlands.

She said the drugs for voluntary assisted dying in the US were expensive with the best drugs costing around $3000.

Ms Sing said the drugs were hardly palatable and needed to be ingested within two minutes or the patient was likely to just go unconscious.

"The evidence on complications is very bad," she said.

"The data shows that people who choose voluntary assisted dying have post-school qualifications and are classed higher socioeconomic.

"That means there is indirect discrimination going on here.

"If people who are poorer are less likely to get it, there's something wrong with the system."

Ms Sing said the six-month prognosis of death, or 12 months for a neurodegenerative condition, had been adopted in assisted dying laws in Victoria and Western Australia.

She said this condition had been avoided in two previous assisted dying bills in Tasmania, the 2013 bill and 2016 bill, and in Mr Gaffney's bill.

Ms Sing said Victorian assisted dying legislation was a mangled version of the Oregon model.

She said under that state's legislation, self-administration of drugs was preferred unless the patient was unable to physically do it themselves.

Ms Sing said that medical support was not guaranteed at the point of administration which could mean complications after ingestion.

"In other jurisdictions that offer a choice, patient choice is always through a doctor," she said.

"The aim should be for the patient to get the best death possible under the circumstances.

"That means it's quick and peaceful - and oral drugs don't always do it."

Under the new Tasmanian draft bill, there is a requirement for a medical professional to be present when drugs are administered.

Ms Sing said this was medically and morally essential.

She said another issue which had emerged from the Victorian legislation was a requirement for a doctor to be a specialist in a particular area.

Ms Sing said this was a significant hurdle for people in regional parts of the state as, even though they were able to satisfy all other eligibility criteria under the laws, they were unable to find a specialist within a suitable time frame.

She said patients had also been unable to provide proof they were an Australian resident through documentation - another requirement under the Victorian laws.

This provision is included in the most recent assisted dying bill in Tasmania but was not included in the 2013 and 2016 bills.

The Western Australian laws, which come into effect in 2021, do not have a requirement for extra qualifications for doctors nor does the most recent Tasmanian bill.

Ms Sing said a specialist requirement in Tasmania would make the laws completely unworkable.

There is a guarantee in this bill for a medical professional to be present at the time of drug administration and death though there is an option for self-administration.

If the bill is enacted, a patient who is suffering intolerably from a medical condition with no prospect of a cure, they will be able to make a request for an assisted death over three occasions.