Northern Territory (NT) Shadow Health Minister Bill Yan has spoken out against the Labor government’s extending of COVID-19 emergency powers, saying they lack accountability.
This comes after Health Minister Natasha Fyles announced on Wednesday that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency would be extended for an extra 90 days despite case numbers and hospital admissions due to the virus continuing to decrease.
NT Chief Health Officer (CHO) Hugh Heggie told reporters on Wednesday that despite declining numbers, the emergency will remain in place because there will be a long tail to the pandemic, and there are many people who are still unvaccinated.
Fyles also announced that the NT Government would introduce a bill to amend the Public and Environmental Health Act 2011, allowing the CHO to gain transitional powers to manage the pandemic emergency for up to two years following the discontinuance of the emergency declaration.
In a social media post on Thursday, Shadow Health Minister Yan said this means the NT Government will have the power to enforce vaccine mandates, mask mandates, quarantine requirements, and restrictions on free movement for an additional two years.
“Labor’s attempt to grant the CHO unfettered powers through the Parliament needs serious scrutiny,” he said.
“The powers granted to the CHO under the Public and Environmental Health Act 2011 are limited to immediate serious public health risks—and for good reason; they are extraordinary powers.”
He continued that this is an attempt by Labor to dodge accountability by bringing in a new set of legislative powers for the CHO without having to justify them.
Yan stressed that when the Health Minister extends the state of emergency, it needs to be justified, but in the case of this legislation, there is no ministerial accountability for the next two years.
“Retaining the emergency powers when no state of emergency exists is evidence of Labor’s inability to govern with public confidence, relying instead on extreme control measures,” he said.
However, Heggie called the legislation an exit strategy from the public emergency, through which the CHO will be able to enact localised responses, continuing to provide recommendations about public health issues related to Omicron and any future variants.
He stressed that decisions made under the new powers would “go through the same processes that these declarations and decisions for CHO directions have been going through for the past two years,” adding that under the new legislation, he would be required to report to the parliament on how he has used his emergency powers over the past two years.
Yan said the Country Liberal Party (CLP) would put forward a bill at the subsequent parliamentary sittings that would require regular reporting from the CHO to the NT public.
Under the current legislation, the CHO has to report to parliament within three months following cessation of an emergency declaration, whereas the CLP will ensure the latest health advice—and basis for that advice—is made available to all members of parliament, businesses, organisations, and the public every three months or less during the state of emergency.
“It no longer makes sense to have a reporting period after a state of emergency that has already lasted almost two years,” Yan said.
“There has to be accountability of the government, and it is not acceptable that with Labor continuously extending the emergency period—Territorians have never seen a single report by the CHO.”
Nurses and Midwifery Federation NT Branch Secretary, Cath Hatcher, pledged her support for the CLP proposal.
“The public has the right to know the decisions that are being made, the public needs transparency, truth and being open with the plans to move forward,” she said.
“After all, these are human lives in play here.”
Meanwhile, Hospitality NT Chief Executive Officer, Alex Bruce, said the CLP’s amendment of the legislation would increase transparency and the ability to examine and understand NT Government measures taken as part of its COVID-19 response.
“Our industry, amongst others, has borne one of the heaviest tolls from the pandemic in terms of lockdowns and lockouts, restrictions on trade, check-in requirements, vaccine employment mandates, masks, and the vaccine passport system,” he said.
“There remains a lack of certainty and clarity about where the public health emergency and the Government’s response is taking our industry in this, our third year of the pandemic.”
“Ensuring greater transparency and understanding of public health restrictions, especially when our COVID advice is at odds with other similar jurisdictions, would be beneficial.”
Chief Executive Officer of NT Chamber of Commerce, Greg Ireland, and Master Builders Chief Executive Dave Malone also expressed their support of the CLP proposal.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Chief Minister’s office for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
