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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (11 May) . . Page.. 1430 ..

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (11.12): I present the Public Health Amendment Bill 2000, together with its explanatory memorandum.

MR MOORE: I move:

Mr Speaker, I am pleased to present to the Assembly the Public Health Amendment Bill 2000. This bill introduces a less bureaucratic but robust system for the regulation of public health activities in the territory through a simple registration process. For the first time, an arms-length approach will enable businesses undertaking activities that impact on public health to operate without onerous prior approval processes.

The registration system introduced by the bill will be administratively simpler than full licensing for many businesses engaged in activities that present a risk to public health and it will be simpler for the government to manage. The registration system forms part of a comprehensive and graduated risk control strategy to protect public health. The bill permits the minister to declare which public health activities may be registered.

With the exception of persons convicted of contravening a public health law, and thus maybe refused registration in the interests of community safety, every business or individual will have a right to be registered if their business has been declared a registrable activity. The registration system has been developed to lessen the regulatory burden on businesses and provide a right of entry into the marketplace. However, the system will still allow the government to monitor public health risks while having minimal impact on business competition.

Mr Speaker, another component of this bill will enable the declaration of the operation "health care facilities" as a public health risk activity. This declaration will enable the government to outline minimal operational standards that must be followed. This will ensure that both private and public health care facilities are constructed, managed and maintained to a standard that provides the lowest risk to patients.

While endeavouring to be less bureaucratic, the Public Health Act is primarily designed to provide government with greater flexibility through the use of a wide range of disease control tools to deliver strong public protection and general control mechanisms. The Sexually Transmitted Diseases Act and the Tuberculosis Act, which had been earmarked for repeal, have been retained within this bill to provide for disease-specific control measures by the Chief Health Officer. These changes are incorporated in the bill to provide a broader and more symptom-specific range of disease control options. The bill also provides an opportunity to include a number of less significant, essentially administrative, changes to the Public Health Act to bring this legislation into line with the current drafting practice.

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