Pandemics, public health emergencies and government powers : perspectives on Australian law / edited by Belinda Bennett, Ian Freckelton.

Alexandria, N.S.W. : The Federation Press, 2021.

1st edition

199036

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Law and legislation -- Australia.

COVID-19 (Disease) -- Safety measures -- Australia.

Public health -- Australia.

Executive power -- Australia.

Epidemics -- Law and legislation -- Australia.

Epidemics -- Government policy -- Australia.

PART A: COVID-19 in context

1. Rights and Powers During Public Health Emergencies

2.Pandemics Will Happen: How Have We Minimised and Managed COVID-19?

3. COVID-19 in Historical Context: Australian Legal and Regulatory Responses to Past Influenza Pandemics

PART B: The role of government

4. Federal and State Powers to Deal with Pandemics: Cooperation, Conflict and Confusion

5. Public Health Emergencies in Australia

6. Government Inquiries, Investigations and Reports During the COVID-19 Pandemic

7. Obtaining COVID-19 Vaccines: How the Government Sold the Parachutes

8. Human Rights in a Pandemic

9. Facemasks for Public Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Examination of Responses in Australia and England

10. The Australian COVIDSafe App and Privacy: Lessons for the Future of Privacy Regulation

PART C: Legal responses to the impact of the pandemic

11. Economic Hardship Payments in Health Emergencies

12. Work Health and Safety: Regulating for Safe and Sustainable Work Practices in a Post-Pandemic World

13. Contract in the Time of COVID-19

14. Post-Separation Parenting During COVID-19

15. The Administration of Justice During Public Health Emergencies

PART D: Health care

16. Patient Rights and Practitioner Responsibilities During a Pandemic

17. Gender and COVID-19: An Australian Perspective

18. First Nations Health During COVID-19 Pandemic – Reversing the Gap

19. The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Impact of Legislative Requirements on Residential Aged Care

20. Health Research and COVID-19

21. End of Life Decision-Making, Advance Care Planning and Estate Planning During a Pandemic.

Pandemics, Public Health Emergencies and Government Powers: Perspectives on Australian Law explores the multi-layered and multi-faceted ways in which Australia’s laws, regulations and law-makers have engaged with the COVID-19 pandemic. What emerges from the 21 chapters from leading scholars in this edited collection is that there have been both successes and some high profile failures. The virus continues to evolve and we as a nation need to continue to learn from international developments and what has worked in Australia and what has not. Law is an integral part of what protects the community against a pandemic. However, a significant component of Australia’s legal response to COVID-19 has been giving extensive powers to State and Territory governments to manage the crisis. This has involved encroachments on individuals’ rights and liberties in relation to quarantine arrangements, border control, lockdowns, curfews face masks and mandatory vaccination, as well as requirements to comply with QR codes and exhortations to utilise the COVIDSafe app. At times these initiatives have been highly contentious. Our workplaces, our clinical services, our research processes and our legal system will emerge changed in the aftermath of the worst of COVID-19. This requires ongoing evaluation and reflectiveness. Pandemics, Public Health Emergencies and Government Powers: Perspectives on Australian Law is a constructive early contribution to this end. - Publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9781760022969

xxxiii, 414 pages ; 24 cm