VICTORIANS should be afraid — very, very afraid.
That’s the ominous warning from Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh when he spoke against the Pandemic Bill introduced by the State Government last week.
“I get the scoffs from the other side of the table, but Victorians should be afraid,” he told State Parliament on Thursday.
“They should be very, very afraid about what this legislation does, how this legislation puts in place the ability of the Premier and the Health Minister to do all the things that we have seen over the last 18 months – to lock people down, to stop them seeing their families, to stop them going to funerals and to have weddings cancelled.”
The Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 would also give the Health Minister, rather than the Chief Health Officer, “broad powers” to introduce public health measures such as lockdowns, mask mandates and quarantine requirements.
A similar process is in place in NSW and New Zealand, where the health minister is directly accountable to parliament.
Health Minister Martin Foley was adamant that the Bill was about creating “an even more transparent and accountable system” to manage pandemics.
Mr Foley said any advice provided by the proposed independent pandemic management advisory committee must also be tabled in parliament.
He said this group would be made up of “public health, human rights and other experts and wider community representatives who will be established to specifically advise on the pandemic response and management powers”.
Mr Walsh argued the legislation put no safeguards in the Bill for the Parliament.
“What the Opposition has very, very clearly said — for the benefit of the minister at the table — is yes, there do need to be powers in a pandemic and a health emergency, but after a period of time they should come back to the Parliament,” he said.
“They should actually explain to the Parliament why those powers may need to continue in the future.
“Yes, there are emergencies that need to be responded to, but come back to the Parliament after a number of days.
“Thirty days would be the absolute maximum, in our view.
“I personally believe two weeks — 14 days — is more than enough for the Parliament to be reconvened if there is a need to extend draconian powers that have such an impact on people’s lives here in Victoria.”
Mr Walsh urged government members to “stand up to their Premier”.
“Show some backbone and vote against this legislation unless those safeguards are inserted into it,” he said.
“Let us make sure that it is not a simple majority in Parliament that can make sure these powers are extended.
“Let us make it three-fifths of the Parliament so it actually has to have support across the chamber, so you can get real democracy back into this state rather than an Andrews’ dictatorship.”
The Bill will be debated in the Legislative Council during the November 16-18 sitting after passing the Legislative Assembly 51 votes to 26.
