Page 3 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 8 February 2022
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Equally, the committee recognises that all members have a statutory duty of care to ensure the health and safety of people who work in the Assembly precincts by ensuring that we all follow public health advice and take all reasonable steps to minimise the possibility of transmitting the virus. I remind members that members and their staff, the staff of the office and others working in the building to not, in any circumstances, enter the precincts if they are feeling unwell; if they are a household contact of a person who is unwell; and if they have had prolonged and close exposure to a COVID-positive person.
Members or staff who test positive to COVID and have been in the precincts while potentially infectious are required to notify the Office of the Legislative Assembly. Where an MLA or a staff member of an MLA tests positive to COVID and there has been prolonged and close exposure to other MLAs or staff, it may be necessary for those MLAs or staff to go into quarantine and to be tested.
We need to remember that if a COVID-positive person is present in the chamber for a prolonged period during a sitting day, this could impact the health and safety of others in our shared workplace. This could also lead to the risk that we could lose our quorum. Similarly, committees should give careful consideration to their arrangements for conducting public hearings and meetings to limit exposure to the virus and acquit their duty of care to witnesses, members and staff.
In line with public health requirements, members must ensure that they and their staff wear masks inside the building and maintain appropriate physical distancing measures and ensure that any visitors to their offices comply with these requirements as well.
There are also advantages in members and their staff undertaking home-based work where that is operationally viable.
Until further notice, while the precincts remain open to members of the public to make representations to MLAs, the public galleries for the chamber and for committees are closed for the time being. Similarly, group visits to the Assembly and the use of meeting rooms by external groups have ceased. The normal range of risk management strategies will continue within the precincts.
The admin and procedure committee has agreed that there will not be more than 13 members in the chamber at any one time and that arrangements for question time in this sitting period will be the same as we experienced in some parts of last year. As an additional precaution, members may wish to consider continuing to wear their masks while they are speaking in the chamber or in committee proceedings.
On behalf of the committee, I thank members and all of those who work in the Assembly precincts for your cooperation and for working together to ensure that we continue to have a safe but functioning workplace and parliament for the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
Petitions
The following petitions were lodged for presentation:
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