Bills

Emergency Management (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (23:07): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation and explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading them.

Leave granted.

I am very pleased to introduce the Emergency Management (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill 2024. This important Bill proposes amendments to the Emergency Management Act 2004 to implement the recommendations of the 2024 Independent Review of the Emergency Management Act 2004.

The Review identified opportunities to improve the Act to ensure it remains fit for purpose to meet evolving challenges in emergency management. The Final Report of the Review made 28 recommendations, which the Government accepted or accepted in principle.

This Bill gives effect to the Review's recommendations for changes to the Emergency Management Act.

The proposed amendments strengthen the Emergency Management Act. The amendments clarify and strengthen roles and responsibilities for emergency management in South Australia and introduce legislative provisions to support the response to and recovery from future emergencies and natural disasters.

The Emergency Management Act was promulgated 21 years ago, superseding the State of Disaster Act 1980. The Act sets out South Australia's legislative framework for emergency management. It establishes the framework and principles for the State's emergency management arrangements, assigns key roles, responsibilities and accountabilities for emergency management, and empowers response and recovery operations.

Over the last two decades the EM Act has provided a solid foundation for South Australia's emergency planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, relief and recovery activities.

This is the first full-scale review of the EM Act in 21 years. Previous amendments to the Act included updates to provisions for the State Emergency Management Committee and the State Emergency Management Plan. The Act was also amended after the state-wide blackout in 2016 to enable an effective response to significant electricity supply emergencies. Most recently, the Act was amended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years, South Australia has experienced some of the most devastating emergencies and natural disasters in its history: the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022-23 River Murray Flood.

The COVI0-19 pandemic tested the operation of the EM Act and its interaction with other legislation like no other emergency before it. There have been only 10 declarations under the EM Act since it came into operation. Three of these declarations were made in the last five years alone. The Major Emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was in place for a record 793 days and extended 25 times between March 2020 and May 2022. The emergency declaration in response to the 2022-23 River Murray Flood was in place for 118 days.

Before COVID, the longest declaration was in place for only four days and were most commonly for bushfire events.

These amendments are, therefore, timely to ensure that the legislative framework empowers South Australia to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emerging risks and hazards such as cyber terrorism and the unique challenges presented by climate change, driving increasingly complex, prolonged, concurrent and compounding natural disasters.

The Bill proposes two significant amendments worth highlighting.

The first substantial change is the introduction of a declaration of a State of Alert. This new category of emergency declaration is modelled on the mechanisms employed in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. It allows the State Co-ordinator to use their powers under the EM Act to scale up or scale down activities, including public messaging, before or after a major emergency or disaster.

The State of Alert would allow for a more flexible coordinated response to a prolonged and complex emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 emergency had several peaks and troughs instead of a linear trajectory through the four emergency management phases of response, relief, and recovery. In such circumstances, a State of Alert would enable scaling up and down emergency public messaging.

The second significant change is the establishment of a separate and permanent State Recovery Co-ordinator with clearly defined responsibilities and powers to support recovery efforts.

The 2022-23 River Murray flood underscored the growing complexity and extended timelines of recovery amid disasters of increasing frequency, intensity and duration. The State Government—supported by the Commonwealth—committed over $194 million to a comprehensive recovery assistance package. This included emergency accommodation, grants for affected individuals, small businesses and primary producers, an extensive waste clean-up program, tourism support, financial counselling, legal assistance, and mental health support.

The State Recovery Co-ordinator will be responsible for leading and coordinating consistent state-level recovery planning and operations. The State Recovery Coordinator will report to the State Co-ordinator when a declaration is in force to ensure clear lines of accountability.

The Bill also amends the EM Act to permanently integrate elements of the COV/0-19 Emergency Response Act 2020, reinstating the temporary powers under that Act to allow for a comprehensive and flexible framework for managing declared emergencies.

The Bill also proposes empowering Ministers to modify, or dispense with, procedural requirements of other legislation during a declaration period. It is recognised that directions issued during a declaration may have consequences on other government operations and it appropriate for a Minister to have flexibility to adjust their legislative requirements if a direction may result in an unintended breach of law. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on movement impacted the ability to sign and witness documents as required by legislation.

The Bill introduces important limitations and checks on this power including the exclusion of certain specified Acts, a requirement that procedures relating to a court can only be modified at the request of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a sunsetting clause. This mirrors the approach in the National Emergency Declaration Act 2020 for Commonwealth legislation.

The Bill also implements the recommendation of the Review to amend the EM Act's objectives and guiding principles to recognise the importance of mitigation as a shared responsibility, the key role of volunteers as key contributors to emergency management efforts, and requiring specific planning for vulnerable people.

Finally, to ensure that the EM Act remains fit for purpose and responsive to the dynamic and changing nature of emergencies and disasters, the Bill inserts a statutory review clause requiring a review of the Act within six years of commencement.

This Bill is our response to an emergency management landscape that is continually evolving. It draws on lessons learned from those events to ensure South Australia has the most effective legislative framework for coordinating government action when disaster strikes.

Importantly, the proposed amendments retain the core strengths of the existing Act—its familiarity within the sector and its built-in flexibility to manage a wide range of hazards—so that we can continue to adapt without losing what works.

I conclude by acknowledging the extraordinary dedication of our emergency management personnel across all levels of government, non-government organisations and the volunteer sector. They work around the clock to protect South Australians, often putting their own safety on the line, and I thank them wholeheartedly.

I also pay tribute to the strength and resilience shown by our community in the face of recent disasters, from the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022-23 River Murray Flood, and the ongoing Inland River Flood Event.

I commend the Emergency Management (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill to the Council and look forward to members' contributions on this important piece of legislation during the debate.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Emergency Management Act 2004

3—Amendment of section 2—Objects and guiding principles

This implements recommendation 1 in the Independent Review of the Emergency Management Act 2004 (the Review) and adds a reference to the State Recovery Co-ordinator.

4—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

This implements recommendation 14 of the Review and makes consequential changes to various definitions.

5—Amendment of section 5—Interaction with other Acts

This helps to clarify the extent of new information gathering powers under Part 4 of the Act.

6—Amendment of section 6—Establishment of State Emergency Management Committee

7—Repeal of section 8

These clauses implement recommendation 4 of the Review.

8—Amendment of section 9—Functions and powers of SEMC

Subclause (1) implements recommendation 5 of the Review and subclause (2) is consequential to clause 18.

9—Repeal of section 10

This clause also implements recommendation 4 of the Review.

10—Amendment of section 15—Functions and powers of State Co-ordinator

This clause corrects a minor error and makes an amendment that is consequential to clause 18.

11—Amendment of section 16—Assistant State Co-ordinators

This clause is consequential to the creation of the new State Recovery Co-ordinator role.

12—Amendment of section 17—Authorised officers

This clause removes gendered language.

13—Amendment of section 18—Delegation

This clause removes gendered language and makes an amendment that is consequential to the creation of the new State Recovery Co-ordinator role.

14—Insertion of Part 3A

This clause inserts a new Part to implement recommendation 13 of the Review.

Part 3A—The State Recovery Co-ordinator

18A—Appointment of State Recovery Co-ordinator

This provides for appointment of the State Recovery Co-ordinator.

18B—Functions of State Recovery Co-ordinator

This sets out the functions of the State Recovery Co-ordinator.

15—Amendment of section 19—Co-ordinating agency

This implements recommendation 3 of the Review.

16—Substitution of heading to Part 4 Division 3

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

17—Amendment of section 21—Publication of guidelines

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

18—Insertion of section 21A

This clause inserts a new section as follows:

21A—State of alert

This implements recommendation 6 of the Review.

19—Amendment of section 23—Major emergencies

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

20—Amendment of section 24—Disasters

This clause makes a consequential amendment and implements recommendation 7 of the Review.

21—Amendment of section 24A—Public health incidents and emergencies

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

22—Amendment of heading to Part 4 Division 4

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

23—Insertion of section 24B

This clause inserts a new section as follows:

24B—Power to require information or documents

This section implements recommendation 10 of the Review.

24—Amendment of section 25—Powers of State Co-ordinator and authorised officers

This clause implements recommendations 8, 9 and 18 of the Review.

25—Insertion of sections 26AB and 26AC

This clause inserts new sections as follows:

26AB—Modification of procedural requirements

This proposed section implements recommendation 11 of the Review but imposes some limitations on the ability to dispense with procedural requirements where they relate to courts or to Parliamentary matters.

26AC—Public sector mobilisation

This proposed section implements recommendation 12 of the Review.

26—Amendment of section 26B—No obligation on persons to maintain secrecy

This clause makes a consequential amendment.

27—Substitution of section 27

This clause substitutes a new section 27 as follows:

27—Recovery operations

This proposed new section implements recommendations 2, 15 and 16 of the Review. Recommendation 17 of the Review would be implemented in regulations made under proposed new section 27.

28—Amendment of section 27A—Interpretation

This clause makes consequential amendments.

29—Amendment of section 27B—Minister may declare electricity supply emergency

This clause implements recommendation 20 of the Review.

30—Amendment of section 27C—Minister's power to give directions

This clause implements recommendation 19 of the Review.

31—Substitution of section 27D

This clause substitutes a new section 27D as follows:

27D—Minister's power to use or require information

This proposed new section implements recommendation 21 of the Review.

32—Amendment of section 27E—Obligation to preserve confidentiality

This clause implements recommendations 22 and 23 of the Review.

33—Amendment of section 27F—Manner of giving directions or requirements

This clause makes consequential amendments.

34—Amendment of section 28—Failure to comply with directions

This clause removes gendered language and makes a consequential amendment.

35—Amendment of section 30—Impersonating an authorised officer etc

This clause removes gendered language.

36—Amendment of section 31A—Confidentiality

This clause implements recommendations 24 and 25 of the Review.

37—Amendment of section 32—Protection from liability

38—Amendment of section 32A—Protection from liability—COVID-19

These clause implement recommendation 26 of the Review.

39—Insertion of section 33A

This clause inserts a new section as follows

33A—Victimisation

This proposed new section implements recommendation 27 of the Review.

40—Amendment of section 36—Insurance policies to cover damage

This implements recommendation 3 of the Review.

41—Amendment of section 38—Regulations

This clause increases the maximum penalty for an offence against the regulations and provides for offences against the regulations to be expiable.

Schedule 1—Transitional provision and review

1—Transitional provision

This clause ensures the amendments in clauses 37 and 38 will apply in relation to acts and omissions whether occurring before or after the commencement of those clauses.

2—Review of Emergency Management Act 2004

This clause implements recommendation 28 of the Review.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. B.R. Hood.