Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. As we've heard today in responses from several ministers, we are planning essentially around a strategy of trying to slow the penetration of the disease in Australia, and so we will be consistently monitoring the operation of a range of legislative arrangements which are there to make sure we can do that. Under the COVID-19 plan, we know that there are some things, with certainty, that we will need to do; we know that there are some things which may need to be done. Many of the laws will be operating at scale in Australia for the very first time, and we will be assessing them, modifying them and/or enhancing them as needs be.

In answer to that question, it's very important for all Australians to understand that there are powers under laws that were introduced specifically by this government, which they may never have experienced before at all or on any scale, that may become necessary to use in the months ahead. Probably foremost amongst those laws are changes that were made by our government in 2015 to the Biosecurity Act. That act replaced the Quarantine Act, which, of course, was over 100 years old at the time that we engaged in law reform in 2015. Of course, the old act was designed for an Australia that had goods and people arriving essentially by sea.

COVID-19 was listed as a human disease for the purposes of the Biosecurity Act on 21 January 2020. That has a number of very important consequences for Australia and Australians in what will no doubt be challenging months going ahead. There are a range of powers that can now be activated under the reformed Biosecurity Act because of the listing of COVID-19 as a human disease. Importantly, there are two broad ranges of powers that people may well experience for the first time. The first is with respect to individuals or groups of individuals. There is the ability of the government to impose—always based on medical advice, but nevertheless impose—a human biosecurity control order on a person or persons who have been exposed to the disease. What that will mean for Australians is actually something very important. It could require any Australian to give information about people that they've contacted or had contact with so that we can trace transmission pathways. It will also mean that Australians could be directed to remain at a particular place or indeed undergo decontamination.

Secondly, a very important power that may be experienced for the first time—and that we will be monitoring very carefully—is the declaration of a human health response zone. That was the power that was used to declare the Diamond Princess. But it's very important to understand, going forward, that that is a power that can be used for either localised disease outbreaks in Australia or indeed to restrict individuals from attending places where a large number of people may otherwise choose to gather, such as shopping centres, schools or work. These are challenging times going forward, and these will be some of the first times that these important powers may be used.

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