Page 1233 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will absolutely do that.
MRS JONES: Minister, will you table the information that was provided to the ABC and published online on 25 May, by close of business today?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Jones for the question. I will have to go and see what that information is and what form it is in. I do not know whether it came from my office or whether it came directly from Canberra Health Services, or whether that particular document contains any other information that it may not be appropriate to table.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: It probably does not, because it was provided to the ABC, but I will check. And if it is possible, I will indeed table it.
Health—public health directions
MR COE: My question is to the Minister for Health. I refer to reports in the media on 4 June this year of concerns raised by the Human Rights Commission about public health emergency directions. The Human Rights Commission said:
Public health emergency directions are not subject to the usual human rights scrutiny requirements under the Human Rights Act. We are concerned that their implementation has also been largely lacking in transparency.
Minister, why has the implementation of public health emergency directions been lacking in transparency?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: The short answer is that it absolutely has not. For the benefit of Mr Coe and the Assembly, the Chief Health Officer is required to consider the human rights implications of every direction that she signs and issues, and that is part of the formal process when she determines a direction and she actually formally considers that. An example of where that has come into play is when a flight arrived from Qatar—very soon after the initial decision was made through the commonwealth and national cabinet that new arrivals from overseas would need to be quarantined in a hotel or in an appropriate place for 14 days—we implemented that in the broad, in line with that decision. But the actual direction indicated that the Chief Health Officer would make an assessment for each person, within 48 hours, of whether they were able to sustain their quarantine at home. The reason—
Mr Coe: On a point of order, the question I specifically asked was not about what considerations the Chief Health Officer or the minister has made but was about transparency. Again, why has the implementation of public health emergency directions been lacking in transparency? That is the consideration. What transparency is there prior to actually making that determination?
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