Proposed amendments to Victoria's pandemic law welcome, will increase oversight and strengthen appeal rights
The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed proposed amendments to Victoria’s new pandemic law, set to be introduced into the Parliament today, which will lead to stronger human rights protections and increased independent oversight of the government’s pandemic response.
With Victoria’s current state of emergency set to expire on 15 December 2021, the Victorian Government recently introduced a proposed new pandemic law – the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill (the Bill) – to support the ongoing management of COVID-19 and any future pandemics.
The initial bill needed amending in key areas but contained several important human rights and democracy safeguards, including:
Moving responsibility for key decisions from unelected officials to the Premier and Health Minister, while still requiring them to consult with the Chief Health Officer and consider the health advice.
Improving transparency around the health evidence and human rights justification relied on by the Premier and Health Minister in making their decisions.
Creating a new multi-disciplinary Independent Pandemic Management Advisory Committee (IPMAC) to review health restrictions.
Giving the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC) the ability to review and recommend disallowing pandemic restrictions and in turn giving Parliament the power to block unjustified restrictions via a vote in both houses of Parliament.
Establishing new privacy safeguards which ensure that contact tracing and QR code data can only be used for public health reasons or in other very limited circumstances.
Introducing a fairer approach to fines for breaches of health restrictions, allowing lower fines for people experiencing disadvantage.
Building on these safeguards, the proposed new amendments to the bill revealed today include:
Creating a new right for people to appeal their detention.
Strengthening the independence of the Parliamentary committee which reviews pandemic restrictions and making it easier for Parliament to disallow unjustified restrictions.
Removing the broad and unclear aggravated offence from the bill.
Ensuring that this law will be independently reviewed in two years’ time.
Daniel Webb, Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre said:
“The pandemic isn’t over and governments around the country need laws in place to support common sense public health measures to keep people safe.
“The new Bill isn’t perfect but it is a big improvement on the existing law. There are new human rights and transparency safeguards in there that aren’t in the laws in other states, like greater transparency around the health evidence and human rights justification for all restrictions, clear appeal rights for anyone who is detained, and a much more compassionate approach to enforcing fines.
“The safeguards in the Bill will help government make better decisions and strike the right balance between our right to life and public health and other individual rights and freedoms.
“We would have liked to have seen an outer limit on how long a pandemic declaration can be extended for and some other changes to the criteria for imposing restrictions. But overall the new bill ensures much greater transparency, oversight and human rights protections than the current law and the laws in other parts of the country. We think it should be passed.”
Media contact:
Evan Schuurman, Media and Communications Manager, 0406 117 937 or evan.schuurman@hrlc.org.au