Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I am pleased to introduce the National Health Security Bill 2007. This is an important bill that delivers on the government’s ongoing commitment to enhance Australia’s capability to protect the health of the nation and to respond to naturally occurring epidemics or to terrorist attacks involving chemical, biological and radiological agents.

Since the 2004-05 federal budget, when $1.6 million was committed over three years to develop national health security legislation, the government has worked cooperatively with all relevant organisations, states and territories to develop legislative foundations for the exchange of health information between jurisdictions.

The government’s efforts were provided added impetus in May 2005, when Australia agreed to adopt the International Health Regulations. The regulations aim to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.

The bill before us addresses both the government’s budget objective and Australia’s treaty commitments by formalising and enhancing existing voluntary arrangements for sharing information about communicable disease, releases of chemical, biological or radiological agents, and the occurrence of other public health events of national significance.

Where it may be necessary to share personal information, for example to trace interstate contacts of people affected by notifiable diseases, the bill has been drafted to ‘authorise’ rather than ‘compel’ the exchange of information. This approach reflects existing cooperative arrangements. The circumstances in which such information can be exchanged are clearly defined and a range of protections have been included in the bill to ensure appropriate care in the holding and use of personal information.

The bill also authorises government to meet international obligations by, for example, enabling the provision of personal information to the World Health Organisation to respond to public health emergencies of international concern.

Personal information will also be able to be exchanged with other countries, for example, to assist the repatriation of Australian victims of overseas mass casualty incidents. While Australia has an outstanding record of response to horrific events such as the Bali bombings, we can always do more to improve systems, communication and ultimately our capacity to repatriate and treat victims of such incidents.

In addition to formalising and enhancing the mechanisms for the exchange of health information, the bill also implements recommendations of the COAG Hazardous Biological Materials Review to establish a national regulatory scheme to minimise the security risks posed by security-sensitive biological agents. These include infectious agents, such as bacteria and viruses that can spread rapidly within a population, and toxins derived from animals, plants or microbial material.

Currently, there is no nationally consistent legislation that covers all facilities and entities that handle security-sensitive biological agents. Indeed, it is not possible to accurately identify those facilities and entities that handle security-sensitive biological agents, or their location. This legislation addresses this risk by providing for the registration of entities handling security-sensitive biological agents and the ongoing regulation and monitoring of those registered facilities. The bill also requires entities to comply with biosecurity standards relating to, for example, storage and security requirements for personnel and transport.

The proposed approach to the regulation of entities handling security-sensitive biological agents has been developed in consultation with affected agencies and all states and territories through the COAG review process.

The government recognises that, if we are to achieve an appropriate balance between ensuring protection of the public and also minimising the impost on business, then all affected parties must continue to be closely involved in the implementation of the regulatory regime. The bill therefore provides for an 18-month implementation period prior to the regulatory scheme coming into effect. This provides an opportunity for the government to work with the sector to ensure that there is minimal regulatory burden and to implement a supporting education and awareness campaign for the new scheme.

I should briefly note that this bill is the first of a number addressing national health security issues. As agreed by COAG at its April 2007 meeting, further consideration is currently being given to legislation to enable coordinated national responses to health emergencies and mass casualty situations. I understand that this work between jurisdictions is progressing well. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Ms Plibersek) adjourned.