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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
South Australia
South Australian Public Health (Early Childhood Services
and Immunisation) Amendment Bill 2019
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 to service provider
96DExclusion of children from
premises 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 (Early
Childhood Services and Immunisation) Amendment Act 2019.
This Act will come into operation on a day to be fixed by
proclamation.
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
In this Part—
early childhood service means a service for the education or
care (or both) of a child under the age of 6 years 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 or guardians 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 under the
Children
and Young People (Safety) Act 2017
;
(k) any other service, or service of a kind, prescribed by the
regulations;
Example—
Childcare, family day care, pre-school, kindergarten and early learning
centre services are early childhood services for the purposes of this
Part.
immunisation record means any of the following records and
documents relating to the immunisation status of a child:
(a) an extract, or extracts, from the Australian Immunisation Register
under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the
Commonwealth;
(b) a document of a kind approved by the Chief Public Health
Officer;
(c) a certificate in writing issued by the Chief Public Health
Officer;
vaccine preventable disease has the same meaning as in the
Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the
Commonwealth.
96B—Requirement to provide immunisation records to
service provider
(1) The parent or
guardian of a child that is 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 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 take reasonable steps to
ensure that the parent or guardian of a child that is enrolled or attends at
premises for the purposes of the provision of the early childhood service
complies with the requirements of
subsection (1)
.
Maximum penalty: $ 2 500.
(4) A provider of an early childhood service must, for the period of a
child's enrolment for the provision of the service, keep a copy of all
immunisation records provided to the provider in respect of the child under
subsection (1)
.
Maximum penalty: $ 2 500.
96C—Provision of information to Chief Public Health
Officer 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) immunisation records relating to each child referred to in
paragraph (a)
provided pursuant to
section 96B(1)
; and
(c) the contact details for a parent or guardian of a 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 24 hours
of the receipt of 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.
96D—Exclusion of children from premises 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 early childhood services 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 at the premises;
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) 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.
96E—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: $2 500.