NSW Unanimously Passes Law to Allow Human Composting
On October 21, 2026 New South Wales became Australia’s first state to legalise human composting. And in a rare political event, The Public Health Amendment (Terramation) Bill 2026 passed both the NSW Legislative Assembly (Lower House) and the Legislative Council (Upper House) with unanimous support.
In June 2025, Teresa Russell, Founder of Earthly Legacy, asked Alex Greenwich, Independent MP for Sydney, to change the law to allow human composting. ‘I approached Alex because I knew he worked well with MPs of all political persuasions and he had led some other important reforms in the past, including the Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation and LGBTQI and marriage equality laws,’ she said.
Alex Greenwich and his team researched the issue and Greenwich visited both Recompose and Return Home facilities in January on a trip to the USA, as well as Meine Erde in Germany in August this year. He also met with these companies’ founders, as well as Washington State Senator Jamie Pedersen, who sponsored the first natural organic reduction / terramation bill in the USA.
Alex Greenwich Independent MP for Sydney introduced the bill in the Lower House in late June. It was debated and voted through on October 15 while Emma Hurst MLC took its carriage over in the Upper House just six days later. The law will come into effect after regulations are in place. The bill stipulates that this should occur within the next two years.
Emma Hurst MLC (Animal Justice Party), Teresa Russell and Alex Greenwich MP (Independent) outside the NSW Parliament after the bill passed the NSW Legislative Council.