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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
South Australian Public Health (Immunisation and Early
Childhood Services) Amendment Bill 2018
A BILL FOR
An Act to amend the
South
Australian Public Health Act 2011
.
Contents
Part 2—Amendment of South Australian
Public Health Act 2011
Part 12A—Immunisation and Early Childhood
Services
96BRequirement to provide
immunisation records
96DRequirement to
provide information on outbreak of vaccine preventable disease
The Parliament of South Australia enacts as
follows:
This Act may be cited as the South Australian Public Health
(Immunisation and Early Childhood Services) Amendment
Act 2018.
This Act will come into operation 6 months after the day on which it
is assented to by the Governor.
In this Act, a provision under a heading referring to the amendment of a
specified Act amends the Act so specified.
Part 2—Amendment
of South Australian Public Health
Act 2011
After Part 12 insert:
Part 12A—Immunisation and Early Childhood
Services
96A—Interpretation
early childhood service means a service for the education or
care (or both) of young children provided for fee or reward but does not include
the following services:
(a) the provision of primary education provided at or in connection with a
primary school;
(b) a service comprising a person engaged by a parent or guardian of a
child to babysit the child in the child's home;
(c) a babysitting, playgroup or childminding service that is organised
informally by the parents of the children concerned;
(d) a service provided for a child by a family member of the child or
friend of the family of the child personally under an informal arrangement where
no offer to provide that service was advertised;
(e) a service principally conducted to provide tuition to 1 child or a
number of children who ordinarily reside together;
(f) a service principally conducted to provide instruction in a particular
activity (such as sport, dance and music);
(g) a service where a parent or guardian of each child remains on site and
is available to care for their child if required;
(h) a service comprising out of school care;
(i) care provided to a child by a person in accordance with a parenting
order under the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth or the Family
Court Act 1997 of the Commonwealth;
(j) care provided to a child in accordance with an approval under the
Children's
Protection Act 1993
;
(k) any other service, or service of a kind, prescribed by the
regulations;
Example—
For example, childcare, family day care, pre-school, kindergarten and early
learning centre services are early childhood services for the purposes of this
Part.
immunisation history statement, in relation to a child, means
an extract, or extracts, from the Australian Immunisation Register under the
Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the Commonwealth
relating to the immunisation history of the child;
immunisation record means a record or document referred to in
subsection (2)
;
vaccine preventable disease has the same meaning as in the
Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the
Commonwealth;
young children means children under the age of 6
years.
(2) For the
purposes of this Part, a child meets the immunisation requirements
if—
(a) an immunisation history statement indicates that the immunisation
status of the child is up to date; or
(b) a document of a
kind approved by the Chief Public Health Officer for the purposes of this
subsection indicates that the child meets the immunisation requirements within
the meaning of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance)
Act 1999 of the Commonwealth; or
(c) a certificate
in writing issued by the Chief Public Health Officer indicates that the child
meets the immunisation requirements.
96B—Requirement to provide immunisation
records
(1) The parent or
guardian of a child that is enrolled, is to be enrolled, or attends at premises
for the purposes of the provision of an early childhood service must provide
immunisation records relating to the child to the provider of the service in
accordance with the requirements of the Chief Public Health Officer.
(2) Requirements of the Chief Public Health Officer made for the purposes
of
subsection (1)
—
(a) must be published in the Gazette; and
(b) may be varied, revoked or substituted by subsequent notice in the
Gazette; and
(c) may, without limitation, make provision in relation
to—
(i) the times (such as the relevant ages of a child) at which documents
must be provided under that subsection; and
(ii) the currency of such documents.
(3) A provider of an early childhood service must keep a copy of all
immunisation records provided to the provider under
subsection (1)
in respect of each child enrolled for the provision of the
service.
Maximum penalty: $ 2 500.
96C—Prohibition on providing early childhood
services to children not meeting immunisation requirements
(1) A person who provides an early childhood service must not enrol a
child for the provision of the service and must suspend the existing enrolment
of a child if—
(a) immunisation records relating to the child have not been provided to
the person in accordance with
section 96B(1)
; or
(b) the child does not, according to immunisation records provided in
accordance with
section 96B(1)
, meet the immunisation requirements.
Maximum penalty: $30 000.
(2) A person must not provide an early childhood service to a child
if—
(a) immunisation records relating to the child have not been provided to
the person in accordance with
section 96B(1)
; or
(b) the child does not, according to immunisation records provided in
accordance with
section 96B(1)
, meet the immunisation requirements.
Maximum penalty: $30 000.
96D—Requirement to provide information on outbreak
of vaccine preventable disease
(1) The Chief
Public Health Officer may, if satisfied that there is an outbreak, or a risk of
an outbreak, of a vaccine preventable disease at premises at which early
childhood services are provided, require the person with responsibility for
providing the service at the premises to provide to the Chief Public Health
Officer—
(a) the name and
date of birth of each child that is enrolled, or routinely attends, at the
premises for the provision of an early childhood service; and
(b) current immunisation records relating to each child referred to in
paragraph (a)
provided under
section 96B(1)
; and
(c) the contact details for a parent or guardian of each child referred to
in
paragraph (a)
; and
(d) any other prescribed information.
(2) Information required to be provided under
subsection (1)
must be provided to the Chief Public Health Officer within 1 business day
after the request for the information.
(3) A person who fails to comply with a requirement of the Chief Public
Health Officer to provide information in accordance with this section is guilty
of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $30 000.
96E—Prohibition on providing early childhood
services to certain children on outbreak of vaccine preventable
disease
(1) The Chief
Public Health Officer may, by notice in writing, direct that a specified child
is excluded from attending at specified premises at which early childhood
services are provided if satisfied that—
(a) the child has been diagnosed with a vaccine preventable disease;
or
(b) there is an
outbreak of a specified vaccine preventable disease at the premises and the
child would, if the child attended at the premises, be at a material risk of
contracting the vaccine preventable disease.
(2) For the purposes of
subsection (1)(b)
, an outbreak of a vaccine preventable disease may (without limitation)
exist at premises if 1 or more persons who routinely attend at the premises have
been diagnosed with the specified vaccine preventable disease.
(3) A direction of the Chief Public Health Officer under
subsection (1)
—
(a) remains in force for the period specified in the direction;
and
(b) may be varied or revoked by the Chief Public Health Officer at any
time by subsequent notice in writing.
(4) A direction
under
subsection (1)
in respect of a specified child and any subsequent variation or revocation
of such a direction must be served on the person responsible for the provision
of an early childhood service at the premises by—
(a) personal
service on the person or an agent of the person; or
(b) leaving it at
the premises specified in the notice with a person apparently employed or
engaged in the provision of an early childhood service; or
(c) email, fax or
text message to an email address, fax number or telephone number known to be
used by the person (in which case the direction will be taken to have been
served at the time of transmission); or
(d) if the person serving the notice has made a reasonable attempt to
serve the direction under
paragraphs (a)
,
(b)
and
(c)
but has been unsuccessful—affixing it to the premises at or near to
the entrance of the premises.
(5) A copy of a direction under
subsection (1)
in respect of a specified child and any subsequent variation or revocation
of such a direction must be given to a parent or guardian of the child by the
Chief Public Health Officer as soon as is reasonably practicable after making
the direction.
(6) For the avoidance of doubt, a child may be excluded from premises
under this section irrespective of whether the child meets the immunisation
requirements or not.
(7) A person must not provide an early childhood service to a child at
premises from which the child is excluded pursuant to a direction under
subsection (1)
.
Maximum penalty: $30 000.
96F—Exemptions
(1) The Chief
Public Health Officer may, by notice in writing, grant an exemption from this
Part or specified provisions of this Part—
(a) in relation to a specified child or children of a specified class;
or
(b) to specified persons or persons of a specified class; or
(c) in relation to specified early childhood services or early childhood
services of a specified class.
(2) An exemption under
subsection (1)
may—
(a) be subject to such conditions as the Chief Public Health Officer
thinks fit; and
(b) apply for a specified period, until further notice or indefinitely;
and
(c) vary according to the circumstances to which it is expressed to
apply.
(3) The Chief Public Health Officer may, by subsequent notice in
writing—
(a) vary or revoke an exemption;
(b) vary or revoke a condition of an exemption or attach new conditions to
an exemption;
(c) vary the circumstances to which an exemption is expressed to
apply.
(4) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a condition of an
exemption imposed under this section is guilty of an offence.
Maximum penalty: $30 000.