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QUARANTINE AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2002 (NO. 2) 2002 NO. 285

Statutory Rules 2002 No. 285

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry

Quarantine Act 1908

Quarantine Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 2)

Section 87 of the Quarantine Act 1908 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Subsection 22(2) of the Act provides that the master of a vessel in port shall forthwith give notice in writing to a quarantine officer of every case of any prescribed disease which was on his or her vessel when it arrived in the port or which has arisen on his or her vessel since it arrived in the port. Subsection 34(3) of the Act provides that all persons landed in pursuance of section 34 shall continue subject to quarantine until such period as is prescribed, and, while so subject, shall be under quarantine surveillance and shall comply with the regulations relating to quarantine surveillance.

The purpose of the Regulations is to prescribe smallpox for the purposes of subsection 22(2) of the Act; and the quarantine period for smallpox for the purposes of subsection 34 (3) of the Act.

The Regulations impose an obligation on the master of a vessel in port to forthwith give notice in writing to a quarantine officer of every case of smallpox which was on his or her vessel when it arrived in port or which has arisen in his or her vessel since it arrived in port. The Regulations also ensure that persons, who are permitted under section 34 of the Act to land from a vessel that a quarantine officer is not satisfied is free from infection from smallpox, are subject to quarantine for 21 days and are under quarantine surveillance for that period.

The Regulations, together with the amendment to the Quarantine Proclamation 1998 to declare smallpox a quarantinable disease will strengthen Australia's preparedness to apply appropriate quarantine controls under the Act in response to an outbreak of smallpox in a foreign country or within Australia. The World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated from the world in 1980 and routine vaccination against smallpox has not been undertaken in Australia for over 50 years. Although an outbreak of smallpox in Australia is considered to be unlikely, it would have serious consequences for the Australian population because immunity to the virus is virtually nonexistent.

Details of the amendment are set out below:

Regulation 1 provides that the Regulations are named the Quarantine Amendment Regulations 2002 (No. 2).

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 of the Regulations amends the Quarantine Regulations 2000.

Schedule 1 Amendments

Item 1 amends subregulation 6 (1) by including smallpox within the list of diseases prescribed for the purposes of section 22 of the Quarantine Act 1908. The effect of this amendment is to impose an obligation on the master of a vessel in port to forthwith give notice in writing of every case of smallpox which was on his or her vessel when it arrived in port or which has arisen on his or her vessel since it arrived in port.

Item 2 makes a minor stylistic amendment to paragraph 42 (1) (e) to provide for the amendment in Item 3.

Item 3 amends subregulation 42 (1) by prescribing a period of 21 days for smallpox. The period is prescribed for the purposes of subsection 34(3) of the Act. This amendment has the effect of prescribing a period during which persons who have landed from a vessel that a quarantine officer is not satisfied is free from smallpox are subject to quarantine and under quarantine surveillance.

Item 4 amends the note at the end of subregulation 42(1) as a consequence of the amendment to the Quarantine Proclamation 1998 to declare smallpox a quarantinable disease.