Page 1600 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 July 2020
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commitment among states that we will each be responsible for meeting the residual costs of quarantining our own residents. National cabinet has since agreed that it is appropriate for states and territories to introduce charging or cost recovery schemes for costs associated with mandatory quarantine, with individuals to pay these costs from now on.
The bill that I am introducing today provides a clear head of power for the determination of fees under section 137 of the Public Health Act 1997 to recover costs from people who are required to undertake mandatory hotel quarantine here in the territory. The government’s approach is consistent with the position of national cabinet and is in line with the actions taken in a number of other jurisdictions, including the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia, which have each introduced schemes to recover costs from returning travellers.
The proposed fee schedule will align with the New South Wales government’s charging arrangements and is informed by our recent experience of managing the two returning flights. For the information of the Assembly, this proposed fee structure is $3,000 for the first returning adult, $1,000 for any additional adult in the same family group and $500 for any child over the age of three. The fee scheme will be established by disallowable instrument in line with section 137(2) of the Public Health Act. The bill also requires that the minister consider any request from a person to pay the fee in instalments or to have it deferred or waived, taking into account the person’s circumstances, including whether they are suffering financial hardship.
I thank the Assembly for providing leave to introduce this bill without the required notice and advise that it is the government’s intention that the bill be debated next week. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Dunne) adjourned to the next sitting.
Education Amendment Bill 2020
Ms Berry, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Deputy Chief Minister, Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development, Minister for Housing and Suburban Development, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (11.03): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
The Education Amendment Bill 2020 I present today amends the Education Act 2004 to continue the government’s work in ensuring that all schools in the ACT are performing to the highest standard, with the appropriate systems in place to ensure that our children and young people are safe and are able to access education. The
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