University of Canberra associate professor in the school of law and justice, Dr Wendy Bonython, believes the ACT will have to wait for the states to make laws on voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide before it becomes an option to pursue locally.

Dr Bonython, who addressed an end-of-life forum at the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, said the Andrews Bill - federal law that prevents the ACT from legislating on voluntary euthanasia - meant the ACT would have to wait for other developments around the nation.

"My sense is that it's going to take one or two of the states to pass some legislation regarding voluntary euthanasia or assisted suicide to kind of encourage the Commonwealth to look at the Andrews Bill again and consider how fair it is for the states to be able to legislate on the issue while the territory can't," she said.

A peaceful death and the choice to pursue one were high among the objectives of about 30 people who attended the second end-of-life forum hosted by Labor Member for Ginninderra Mary Porter.

The office of Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury also confirmed it was continuing to collect signatures online and in person for a petition seeking the repeal of the Andrews Bill to open the way for the possible introduction of voluntary euthanasia in the ACT, with 636 signatures collected since March.

Ms Porter said people who attended the forum were interested in advanced care directives which outlined a person's wishes should their health deteriorate to the point they could no longer give informed consent and whether other parties such as family and medical personnel would respect the documents. There was also discussion around how to let others know such a document existed and how it could be accessed in an emergency.

Dr Bonython said advanced care directives did have legal standing and allowed people who were well and capable to make orders regarding their treatment in the case of some future event.

"So for example, they might say in the event of a heart attack they don't want to be resuscitated," she said.

Dr Bonython said some sort of registration of advanced care directives would make it easier for others such as medical personnel to know they existed.

The forum also wanted more research into voluntary euthanasia and greater education and public opinion polling of the community on the issue. It also wanted more education of the public on palliative care.

Ms Porter said she was due to finish soon a research paper into end of life options for people in the ACT.

"My main task at the moment, given the situation we are in with the Andrews Bill, is to keep this conversation going because the more conversation we have, the more educated people we'll get and the more chance we have of moving forward in the future," she said.

More information on future forums and other related information will be posted on Ms Porter's website at www.maryporter.net.