South Australian Public Health (Early Childhood Services and Immunisation) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:29): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the South Australian Public Health Act 2011. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:30): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Immunisation is one of the most cost-effective health interventions and is supported by the World Health Organization and all levels of government in Australia. South Australia has free vaccines, adequate vaccine supplies for all children and ready access to immunisation services, yet the latest available data shows that 5 to 12 per cent of children in South Australia still do not get timely or complete routine vaccinations scheduled for the early years of life.

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease continue to occur. A large outbreak of measles in New Zealand recently spread to the Pacific Islands, including Samoa, where around 6,000 people have been infected and 83 people, mostly children, have died. In 2019, the first phase of changes to the South Australian Public Health Act were made to strengthen the ability of public health officials to respond to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease in early childhood services.

From the beginning of this year, parents have been required to provide immunisation records to staff at early childhood services when they enrol a child, and ongoing at specified times, and the early childhood services are required to keep these and provide them to the Chief Public Health Officer on request. The Chief Public Health Officer can exclude susceptible children during an outbreak of a vaccine preventable disease.

The amendment bill, the second phase of measures to strengthen immunisation requirements, was developed after extensive public consultation. This bill prohibits enrolment of children who are not up-to-date with vaccinations, or provision of those services if a child does not remain up-to-date, unless they meet certain specified exemption criteria. The Marshall government respects the contribution that early childhood services make to the development of children. However, that contribution should not be at the risk of morbidity or mortality of the child or other children from a vaccine-preventable disease. I commend the bill to the council and seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of South Australian Public Health Act 2011

4—Amendment of section 96A—Interpretation

Subclause (1) proposes to amend the definition of early childhood service to include 'occasional care' as an example of an early childhood service.

Subclause (2) defines the circumstances in which a child meets the immunisation requirements for the purposes of proposed clauses 96BA and 96BB (to be inserted by clause 5). It is proposed that a child meets the immunisation requirements if the child meets the immunisation requirements within the meaning of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth (subject to any prescribed modifications).

5—Insertion of sections 96BA and 96BB

This clause inserts new sections 96BA and 96BB.

Proposed new section 96BA prohibits the enrolment of a child for the provision of an early childhood service unless immunisation records relating to the child have been provided to the person providing the service in accordance with section 96B(1) and those records indicate that the child meets the immunisation requirements. The section provides a defence where a defendant relied in good faith on immunisation records (or purported immunisation records) provided in accordance with section 96B(1) indicating that the immunisation status of the child was up to date.

Proposed new section 96BB prohibits the provision of an early childhood service for a child unless immunisation records relating to the child have been provided to the person providing the service in accordance with section 96B(1) and those records indicate that the child meets the immunisation requirements. The section provides a defence where a defendant relied in good faith on immunisation records (or purported immunisation records) provided in accordance with section 96B(1) indicating that the immunisation status of the child was up to date.

6—Amendment of section 96E—Exemptions

This clause proposes to increase the maximum penalty for an offence against section 96E(4) being a contravention or failure to comply with a condition of an exemption imposed under section 96E. The current maximum penalty is a fine of $2,500 and the proposed maximum penalty is a fine of $30,000.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.