Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Thorpe, thank you for bringing questions around race and the impacts of racism on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into this debate. It is an issue I would acknowledge, and I know that my colleague Senator McCarthy would also acknowledge these concerns. I well recall the important role that Aboriginal controlled community health organisations and land councils played during the pandemic in describing the particular risks that presented for their communities and in supporting senators in this place to understand those and to help shape the way that we were thinking about what an appropriate pandemic response would look like.

The bill does provide many references to the responsibilities of the director-general to consider the public-health impacts that might arise for particular populations. In particular, as a legislated objective, the director-general must have regard to the impacts of risks to public health and the impacts of responses to risks to public health on particular communities and population groups. This objective will ensure that consideration is given to the impacts of public-health risks, the advice and approaches to combat the impacts on specific population groups and the health inequities that they face across all functions—