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Bill Summary

The Bill aims to replace the need for regular extensions of the State of Emergency declaration with a new pandemic management framework under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act. This new framework would give the Minister for Health and Chief Health Officer broad powers to issue orders related to public health protections during a pandemic. It also aims to increase transparency around decision making through new accountability and reporting requirements. Key elements of the new framework include allowing the Premier to declare pandemics, enabling pandemic orders for up to 3 months at a time with no end date, and establishing an advisory committee. Limited consultation was conducted with legal, human rights, and public health experts due to time constraints.

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133K views4 pages

Bill Summary

The Bill aims to replace the need for regular extensions of the State of Emergency declaration with a new pandemic management framework under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act. This new framework would give the Minister for Health and Chief Health Officer broad powers to issue orders related to public health protections during a pandemic. It also aims to increase transparency around decision making through new accountability and reporting requirements. Key elements of the new framework include allowing the Premier to declare pandemics, enabling pandemic orders for up to 3 months at a time with no end date, and establishing an advisory committee. Limited consultation was conducted with legal, human rights, and public health experts due to time constraints.

Uploaded by

Richard Hughes
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Bill Summary


Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021

MINISTER FOR HEALTH

What does the Bill do?


1. The Bill will replace the need for regular extensions to the State of
Emergency under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (PHWA) with a
tailored, fit-for-purpose pandemic management framework comprising powers
appropriate to ensure Victoria is equipped for the ongoing COVID-19 response,
as well as future pandemics.

2. The current State of Emergency may only be extended until 15 December


2021 and will then have been in place for 21 months, despite the PHW Act
initially providing for a State of Emergency to have a maximum duration of six
months. Amendments to the PHW Act have been required to allow for
extensions to the COVID-19 State of Emergency.
3. In particular, the Bill establishes several mechanisms designed to improve the
transparency of pandemic decision-making and accountability of decision-
makers to Parliament and the community. The outcomes of consultation are
outlined in this summary.
4. The Bill provides for the use of the same powers currently available under the
State of Emergency through Chief Health Officer Orders, however, the bills
provide the Minister for Health with these broad powers to make pandemic
orders where reasonably necessary to protect public health, on the advice of
the Chief Health Officer.

Context of the Bill


1. When agreeing to the most recent extension to the State of Emergency,
crossbench MPs critical to passing the Bill, requested that specific legislation
be developed to support the ongoing management of COVID-19 and future
pandemic events. This Bill delivers on that request.
2. The Bill is designed to build on the strengths of the State of Emergency
powers and framework, while incorporating lessons from the COVID-19
experience in Victoria and comparable jurisdictions, in particular New
Zealand, and responding to concerns raised by key stakeholders.
3. The Bill will enable to ongoing management and response to the COVID-19
pandemic.

Details of the Bill


1. Key amendments in the new Part of the PHWA will:
a. create a new objective to guide decision-making towards proactive and
responsive public health measures;
b. enable the Premier to declare a pandemic, enlivening the new Part,
where satisfied there is a serious risk to public health arising from a
pandemic or disease of pandemic potential;
c. provide for declarations to be renewed for up to three months at a
time, with no outer limit on the total duration of a declaration;
d. provide the Minister for Health with a broad power to make pandemic
orders where reasonably necessary to protect public health;
e. specify a non-exhaustive list of pandemic management powers that can
be exercised by the Chief Health Officer and authorised officers,
drawing on the experience of the COVID-19 response;
f. clarify that pandemic orders can differentiate between people in a
range of settings according to public health risk: for example,
vaccination status;
g. remove barriers to gathering and sharing information during a
pandemic, and introduce enhanced information safeguards for contact
tracing information, including QR code data and interview information;
h. provide for authorised officers to continue to exercise key functions
and powers to support the pandemic response, including continuing the
ability to appoint broader classes of authorised officers to support
surge capacity;
i. promote greater accountability and transparency in pandemic decision-
making, including by:
i. providing for the establishment of an Independent Pandemic
Management Advisory Committee;
ii. requiring the publication of the reasons for the Chief Health
Officer making a pandemic order and a summary of the charter
of human rights and responsibilities taken into account;
iii.providing for the publication of detention guidelines; and
iv. mandating the preparation and publication of a compliance and
enforcement policy in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic;
j. extend the operation of the contribution fee scheme for mandatory
quarantine beyond 31 December 2021 and support information
collection for the purposes of Victoria’s quarantine fee recovery regime
(being quarantine in state-managed facilities);
k. deter and support a proportionate response to the most egregious
pandemic-related behaviours by providing for an aggravated offence;
l. deter body corporate entities from non-compliance with pandemic
orders by providing for court-imposed penalties based on a multiple of
any commercial benefit resulting from a breach of a pandemic order;
m. amend the Infringements Act 2006 to broaden the ‘special
circumstances’ pathway for those seeking a review or revocation of an
infringement notice;
n. create a concessional infringement penalty scheme for infringements
issued under the new Part for those experiencing financial hardship;
o. require a statutory review of the operation and effectiveness of the
new pandemic management regulatory framework within two years of
commencement.

Consultation
1. Because of the short timeframe and the complexity involved in developing
this Bill, consultation has not been as extensive as it would normally be.
2. To support the development of the Bill, an Expert Reference Group (ERG) was
established to support the development of the pandemic-specific Part in the
Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic). The ERG consists of Jason Pizer
QC (barrister practicing in administrative and commercial law), Associate
Professor Joseph Doyle (physician and researcher with the Burnet Institute),
and Nicole Brady (Deputy Secretary, Public Health Policy and Strategy,
Department of Health).
3. The Expert Reference Group and the Department of Health have undertaken
targeted consultation which has informed the development of the Bill and
sought to engender support for its introduction, including:
a. targeted advice from the current and former Solicitors-General; and
b. workshops with thirty key external stakeholders, including public
health experts, law and human rights advocacy groups, industry and
Aboriginal community leaders held between June and July 2021.
4. External stakeholders consulted were:
a. Culturally diverse community representatives, social services and
public housing organisations
i. Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
ii. Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria
iii.Victorian Multicultural Commission
iv. Victorian Public Tenants Association
v. Victorian Council of Social Service
vi. Victorian Housing Industry Association
b. Human rights
i. Commission for Children and Young People
ii. Victorian Ombudsman
iii.Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission
iv. Liberty Victoria
v. Human Rights Law Centre
c. Legal stakeholders
i. Justice Connect
ii. Law Institute Victoria
iii.Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
iv. Victorian Bar
v. Victorian Legal Aid
vi. Inner Melbourne Community Legal
vii.Laureate Professor Emeritus Cheryl Saunders AO, University of
Melbourne
d. Public Health
i. Burnet Institute
ii. Doherty Institute
iii.Australasian Faculty of Public Health and Medicine
iv. Public Health Association Australia
v. Australian Hospitals and Healthcare Association
vi. Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases
vii.Australian Medical Association
e. Regulators & Government agencies
i. Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner
ii. Health Complaints Commissioner
iii.Victorian Centre for Data Insights

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