Locke Keith: Third Readings 
Locke Keith: Third Readings 
[Volume:636;Page:7183] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party will be supporting the third readings. I sat on the Government Administration Committee for the purposes of this legislation even though the Greens are not normally represented on that committee. The reason I sat in was our concern that the powers being granted to the executive branch were perhaps excessive in the situation. As the legislation proceeded through the select committee it was very good to see the way in which the input of so many people was considered—input from the select committee people themselves from Shane Ardern who chaired the committee quite well from Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Health people from human rights people and of course from Sir Geoffrey Palmer who has been mentioned from the Law Commission. All their input was considered and the views of the officials evolved. 
This legislation changed in the select committee stage probably more than any other legislation I have ever seen in Parliament. That happened through a consensus process that ended up with a unanimous vote and it is a tribute to the workings of Parliament. What was done was that all the controls in terms of advance regulations were brought in—a stepped-in process of the controls in the legislation as the threat of a pandemic increases and the stepping out from those controls as it recedes. A whole lot of things were built into that process including as Shane Ardern just mentioned the parliamentary supervision process the calling together of Parliament making sure members of Parliament have the right to challenge any regulations—those that were not arranged in advance through the regulatory process prescribed but brought in at the time of the pandemic and that were to go through a proper regulations review system. At the outset it may have been thought that because a pandemic hits so fast so dramatically a lot of those things might have to go by the board a bit. But I think we worked it out after due consideration that we can have a process. Of course the process is difficult when a pandemic is operating but it can work. 
The other thing that Geoffrey Palmer brought to our attention which really struck me was how in some ways we are ahead of many other countries in world in how we have dealt with this threat because a lot of other countries deal with such emergencies under generic legislation. Geoffrey Palmer from the Law Commission mentioned in his paper the United Kingdom’s Civil Contingencies Act 2004. He mentioned the positive side of that Act in terms of Parliament being called together to look at regulations made under that Act. But the other side of that legislation which is not quite so positive compared with what we will have is that it covers so many different types of emergencies—threats to human welfare which can be in the areas of health transport communications energy water and food; threats to the environment; and threats such as terrorism—all bundled up in one Act and we can see there the potential for the executive to exert power across a number of fronts relatively unrestrained. So I think our legislation is much superior to the approach taken by some other jurisdictions and we can be proud of that. 
The other thing I would like to say from a Green perspective is that although we think such legislation is very necessary and that it is important for the executive branch and Parliament to have the powers worked out collectively to loosen certain laws because of people being unable to get around to fulfil certain legally prescribed functions during a pandemic—although that can operate at the national level—the real success of what we do as a country will depend on how well we work together at the community level. I think that is relevant to what Shane Ardern said earlier when he talked about publicity and the population’s knowledge both about what the Government might be doing and about pandemics as a whole. The community has to be a bit engaged with that prior to the pandemic breaking out because with such a threat there will be a bit of panic if people think that coming into contact with an infected person might put their lives and the lives of their families in danger. There will be the stress of families divided—families who may have some members overseas who are not able to return—and all the anguish that that breeds. So calm people like teachers who are used to dealing with large numbers of kids and doctors and nurses who deal with large numbers of people in the community will have to be geared in. 
We will have to work as a community to reduce the cross-infection that might take place but on the other hand keep the society going. Keeping the medical system going as much as possible keeping our families together working out ways of people getting goods shopping without too much cross-infection occurring etc. will be a challenge. I think we as MPs have a role to play in linking what we might be doing at the national level and what the Government and Parliament might be doing at the national level with what is being done at the local level which is where the dangers of a pandemic are being confronted. The Greens are supporting this bill.