Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health, Senator Cash. It refers to the Australian health sector's emergency response plan for COVID-19, which was endorsed by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, on 17 February. Is it not the case that the plan discusses three scenarios for the impact of the virus in Australia, ranging from 'low' to 'moderate' and then 'high clinical severity', with the third scenario being comparable to the 1918 H1N1 Spanish flu? Doesn't the plan further advise that for the moderate and severe impact scenarios, new health emergency legislation may be needed to support outbreak response-specific activities? What new legislation is the government planning to introduce, or encourage states and territories to adopt, to prepare for the possible widespread outbreak of COVID-19?