SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC HEALTH BILL

Final Stages

The Legislative Council insisted on its amendment No. 4 to which the House of Assembly had disagreed and made amendments relevant to amendment No. 4 to which amendments the Legislative Council desires the concurrence of the House of Assembly. The Legislative Council did not insist on its amendment No. 6.

Clause 90, page 56, after line 1—After new subclause (7) insert:

(7a) The following provisions will apply in connection with an application under subsection (5):

(a) the making of an application does not suspend the operation of a direction to which the application relates (and the Magistrates Court must not suspend or stay the operation of the direction pending the outcome of the proceedings);

(b) the Magistrates Court must consider whether 2 or more applications by separate individuals may be joined or heard together taking into account:

(i) the extent to which it is impractical or unreasonable for individual applications to be heard separately in view of the number of applications before the court; and

(ii) the extent to which there are questions of fact or law that are sufficiently similar or common across a series of applications; and

(iii) the extent to which the directions across a series of applications are the same or similar; and

(iv) such other matters as the court thinks fit in order to best manage the applications in the circumstances of the emergency;

(c) the Chief Magistrate may make such orders as the Chief Magistrate thinks fit (either in a specific case, in a specific class of cases, or generally with respect to applications under subsection (5)) to assist in dealing with the management and hearing of applications under subsection (5) (and any such order will have effect according to its terms).

After subclause (12) insert:

(12a) The following provisions will apply in connection with an appeal under subsection (11):

(a) the making of the appeal does not suspend the operation of a direction that has been confirmed by the Magistrates Court and the District Court may, as it thinks fit, make any other order with respect to the operation of any other direction that has been varied or revoked by the Magistrates Court (including, if the District Court thinks fit, to reinstate or vary an original direction on an interim basis pending the outcome of the appeal);

(b) the District Court must consider whether 2 or more appeals by separate individuals may be joined or heard together taking into account:

(i) the extent to which it is impracticable or unreasonable for individual appeals to be heard separately in view of the number of appeals before the court; and

(ii) the extent to which there are common questions or issues across a series of appeals; and

(iii) such other matters as the court thinks fit in order to best manage the appeals in the circumstances of the emergency;

(c) the Chief Judge may make such orders as the Chief Judge thinks fit to assist in dealing with the management and hearing of appeals under subsection (11) (and any such order will have effect according to its terms).

After subclause (15) insert:

(15a) A person subject to a direction who is a party to proceedings before a court under this section is not entitled to attend those proceedings but is entitled to be represented at any hearing by a person (who need not be a legal practitioner) nominated by him or her.

(15b) A court must, in dealing with proceedings under this section, take into account the need to ensure that its proceedings do not unduly hamper the work of public officials in dealing with an emergency.

Consideration in committee.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I move:

That the disagreement to amendment No. 4 be no longer insisted on and the further amendments to amendment No. 4 be agreed to.

I inform the committee that the government will support the South Australian Public Health Bill in the form that it comes from the Legislative Council after its second visit to that esteemed establishment. There has been an extensive and fruitful set of discussions with the opposition on the points which were in contention when the house last examined the bill. I am happy to say that, through a spirit of compromise and reasonableness on all sides, we have reached agreement. I particularly acknowledge the fine efforts of my colleague the member for Morphett, who I know has worked hard to ensure that his side reached a resolution with us. I thank him for that.

The effect of these amendments is to protect, as much as possible, the state's ability to manage significant public health emergencies. They insert four qualifications in the application of appeal rights to clause 90. These, in effect, are: that a public health order is not suspended on the lodging of the appeal and neither could it be suspended pending the outcome of the hearing; that the person who was the subject of the appeal is not entitled to be present in court during the hearing of an appeal but may be represented by a person nominated by them; where there are two or more appeals of similar class, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary, the court will hear the appeals jointly; and the courts must be mindful of the circumstances of a public health emergency and take steps to ensure that any proceedings do not unduly hamper the work of public officials during the emergency.

Of course, this was not the ideal position we wanted, but we think it is manageable. We are particularly pleased that the opposition did not proceed with its other amendment, which would have tied the hands of the police commissioner in an emergency which was based in a health matter. We can live with this compromise and, in the nature of all compromises between parties, it is something that probably neither side thinks is perfect, but we can both live with it. So, that is a good thing.

The passing of this legislation brings our capacity to respond to public health challenges into the 21^st century. We now have the tools to face the unpredictable and newly emerging threats which confront us, whether they be new infectious conditions, non-communicable diseases, injuries, contaminants in our environment, threats from climate change or problems caused by the very shape and form of our cities and towns.

This legislation would not have been possible without the support and clear leadership of local government, in particular, the staff and elected members of the Local Government Association. It is because of that support we can now turn with confidence to the process of implementation. I want to put on record my thanks and gratitude to them.

This is a piece of legislation which has been under consideration actively for 10-plus years, at least 10 years, so it has been really worked over very thoroughly. I know that my department has already commenced planning for this and has done so with the same commitment to partnership and collaboration used to develop the legislation.

Because of what we do today, in the coming months and years we will see new approaches to public health developed, we will see existing public health programs strengthened, and we will see greater effort across all levels of government working together to both protect and improve the public health of South Australians.

Once again, I thank the opposition for the approach it has taken to this and I also thank, in particular, my officers in the health department who I know have been looking forward to this for a very long time. They have worked very hard to achieve this. I commend the bill to the house.

Dr McFETRIDGE: I congratulate the minister on getting the bill through the place. It has only been 11 years since Dean Brown started the review of the bill and, as can be seen in Europe now with 20 people dead and 600 people in intensive care, public health is an extremely important issue. The E.coli outbreak in Europe is one that we need to be wary of because it is going to hit us some time, somewhere, some day. This legislation will go a long way to making sure that we are able to control those sorts of outbreaks and give South Australians the health services and watchdog they deserve.

Motion carried.