COVID-19 : NOVEL CORONAVIRUS
WEDNESDAY 14 JULY 2021
Please find below a selection of recent legislation changes relating to COVID-19 and communications for workplaces from key safety and environmental regulators in Australia and New Zealand.
This update is provided on a weekly basis.
LEGISLATION CHANGES
Please note: The legislation in this update was current at time of release. Legislation around COVID-19 is frequently updated and revoked. The URLs provided may no longer be maintained by the relevant legislative website, after the release date.
- Establishes requirements on approved providers of home care services and Short Term Restorative Care in a home or community setting to keep records and report to the Commonwealth the number of service staff who have voluntarily informed the approved provider they have received a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, all required doses of a COVID-19 vaccination; and the annual seasonal influenza vaccine for that year.
Defence Determination, Conditions of Service Amendment Determination 2021 (No. 6)
- Among other things, enables members on a long-term posting overseas who wish to travel domestically or to a third country other than Australia to seek relief and respite from their posting location during COVID-19 restrictions to have leave granted and to ensure not have their leave cancelled when travelling.
Defence Determination, Conditions of Service Amendment Determination 2021 (No. 11)
- Among other things, extends by 1 year the provision of education assistance for the children of members on a long-term posting overseas who stayed in the USA during the COVID-19 evacuation consistent with DFAT advice concerning the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on government schools in the USA.
Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code) Instrument (No. 2) 2021
- Amends the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code (No.2) 2018 to replace references to the Therapeutic Goods (Restricted Representations - COVID-19 Vaccines) Permission 2021 with references to the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code) Instrument (No. 2) 2021.
Public Health (COVID-19 Affected Areas) Emergency Direction 2021 (No 10)
- Requires certain affected persons to quarantine and persons who have been in an affected area subject to a stay-at-home requirement to stay at home, among other things.
Public Health (COVID-19 Areas of Concern) Notice 2021 (No 162)
- Identifies areas as COVID-19 affected areas, affected areas subject to a stay at home requirement, and COVID-19 places of concern.
Public Health (Diagnosed People and Close Contacts) Emergency Direction 2021 (No 1)
- Requires people who are diagnosed with COVID-19 to self-isolate and people identified as a close contact to quarantine, in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Public Health (Residential Aged Care Facilities) Emergency Direction 2021 (No 4)
- Restricts access to residential aged care facilities in order to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Approval - Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 (NSW)
- Approves the supply of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-S) vaccine by pharmacists subject to specified conditions.
Public Health (COVID-19 Gathering Restrictions) Order (No 2) Amendment Order 2021
- Expands to additional classes of premises the requirement that a person entering the premises must electronically register the person’s contact details with Service NSW.
Public Health (COVID-19 Gathering Restrictions) Order (No 2) Amendment Order (No 2) 2021
- Clarifies the requirements for the occupiers of premises in relation to the registration of the contact details of persons entering the premises when those persons are unable to register their contact details electronically with Service NSW, requires persons entering an early education and care facility to register their contract details electronically with Service NSW, and clarifies that the requirement for a person to register their contact details electronically with Service NSW when entering a premises does not apply in relation to farms.
Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 2) Order 2021
- Extends the operation of the Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Order 2021 by an additional week, until 17 July 2021.
Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 3) Order 2021
- Places additional restrictions on the number of visitors to places of residence in Greater Sydney.
Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 4) Order 2021
- Requires fitted face coverings to be worn in indoor areas on common property in certain residential premises in Greater Sydney, removes an exemption from the requirement to wear a fitted face covering on a construction site, limits the circumstances in which a person may enter or leave Greater Sydney, only permits 1 member of a household to go out to obtain food, goods or services once per day, puts restrictions on persons going out for exercise and outdoor recreation in Greater Sydney, and places further restrictions on gatherings.
Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 5) Order 2021
- Excludes the person conducting a service for a funeral or memorial service, or any other person necessary for the conduct or preparation of the service, from the limit on the number of persons allowed to attend a funeral or memorial service, or a gathering following a funeral or memorial service.
Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Amendment (No 6) Order 2021
- Amends the Public Health (COVID-19 Temporary Movement and Gathering Restrictions) Order 2021 to require testing of certain workers before they enter a premises for work that is outside their local government area, or more than 50 km outside Greater Sydney, among other things.
COVID-19 Directions (No. 33) 2021: Directions for Aged Care Facilities
- Restricts access by certain people to aged care facilities, and requires aged care facilities to collect information about visitors, among other things.
- Requires a person in authority for a place, business, activity, service or premises to prepare a COVID-19 safety plan, to have a COVID-19 safety supervisor and to use the Territory Check In application, among other things.
COVID-19 Directions (No. 36) 2021: Directions for Major Public Events
Disability Accommodation Services Direction (No.20)
- Restricts access to the premises of disability accommodation services, requires all people entering or remaining on premises of disability accommodation services to wear a mask and requires the disability accommodation services operator to ensure electronic collection of visitor information, including for volunteers and contractors, among other things.
- Manages access to hospitals and requires operators of hospitals to ensure electronic collection of visitor information, including for volunteers and contractors, among other things.
Residential Aged Care Direction (No.2)
- Restricts access to residential aged care facilities, requires all people entering or remaining on an aged care facility to wear a mask and requires the operator of a residential aged care facility to ensure electronic collection of visitor information, including volunteers and contractors, among other things.
Emergency Management (Cross Border Travel - Associated Direction No 28) (COVID-19) Direction 2021
- Declares the ACT, Greater Brisbane, Townsville City Council, area of Simpson Desert and NSW as restricted zones, imposes cross border requirements on certain overseas arrivals and interstate arrivals from the ACT, NSW, and QLD, among other things.
Emergency Management (Cross Border Travel - General No 2) (COVID-19) Direction 2021
- Ensures people arriving in the State, or who have recently arrived in the State, are subject to requirements and restrictions, or to prohibitions, appropriate to the level of risk associated with the locations visited by them.
Emergency Management (Residential Aged Care Facilities No 38) (COVID-19) Direction 2021
- Ensures that appropriate measures are taken to establish controls and safeguards to protect vulnerable members of the South Australian community, including by mandating a requirement to maintain records of COVID-19 vaccinations.
Restricted Activity Directions (Victoria) (No 17)
- Restricts the operation of certain businesses and undertakings in the State of Victoria to address the serious public health risk posed to Victoria by COVID-19 - came into force at 11.59 pm on 8 July 2021.
Stay Safe Directions (Victoria) (No 24)
- Limits interactions with others by restricting private and public gatherings and requires persons to carry and wear face coverings in certain circumstances - came into force at 11.59 pm on 8 July 2021.
Victorian Border Crossing Permit Directions (No 20)
- Replaces the Victorian Border Crossing Permit Directions and continues to provide a 'traffic light' border crossing scheme for persons seeking to enter Victoria from any other State or Territory in Australia or, after entering Australia from a Green Zone Country in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 - came into force at 11.59 pm on 12 July 2021.
Workplace (Additional Industry Obligations) Directions (No 31)
- Establishes additional specific obligations on employers and workers in specific industries in relation to managing the risk of COVID-19 - came into force at 11.59 pm on 8 July 2021.
- Limits the number of Victorians attending Work Premises to assist in reducing the frequency and scale of COVID-19 outbreaks in Victorian workplaces and establishes more specific obligations on employers and workers in relation to managing the risk associated with COVID-19 - came into force at 11.59 pm on 8 July 2021.
Controlled Border for Western Australia Amendment Directions (No 31)
- Replaces paragraph 31A definition of “low risk jurisdiction”, and paragraph 37A definition of “relevant time”, of the Controlled Border for Western Australia Directions.
Extension of Declaration (No. 2) of Public Health State of Emergency
- Extends the public health state of emergency declaration which came into effect on 23 March 2020 for a period of 14 days.
Extension of State of Emergency Declaration
- Extends the duration of the state of emergency declared on 15 March 2020 for a period of 14 days.
Wastewater COVID Testing at Laboratories Outside WA Reporting Directions
- Ensures that all persons requesting the sampling of wastewater for COVID-19 testing where the testing is being conducted outside Western Australia notifies the Chief Health Officer of all positive, negative and inconclusive tests, as soon as practicable, and in any event, within 6 hours of obtaining a positive test result or 48 hours of obtaining a negative or inconclusive test result, in order to prevent, control or abate the serious public health risk presented by COVID-19.
Wastewater COVID Testing at WA Laboratories Reporting Directions
- Ensures that the responsible pathologist or other person in charge of a pathology laboratory in Western Australia that conducts testing of wastewater samples for COVID-19 notifies the Chief Health Officer of all positive, negative and inconclusive tests, as soon as practicable, and in any event, within 6 hours of obtaining a positive test result or 48 hours of obtaining a negative or inconclusive test result, in order to prevent, control or abate the serious public health risk presented by COVID-19.
COVID-19 Public Health Response (Exemptions and Conditions for Quarantine-free Travel) Amendment Notice (No 9) 2021
- Changes the conditions to which certain persons exempt from quarantine-free travel are subject, so that those conditions do not apply to persons who are or have been in WA or the NT, or to NZ citizens and certain other classes of persons unless they have been in NSW at or after 10.30 pm on 26 June 2021.
- Exempts certain persons from conditions, and replaces Clause 10B(4) of the COVID-19 Public Health Response (Exemptions and Conditions for Quarantine-free Travel) Notice 2021 to clarify that the condition for pre-departure testing of aircrew members does not apply to aircrew members who were in Australia for less than 72 hours before departure on a QFT flight and had not departed from Australia during the period starting at 10.30 pm on 26 June 2021 and ending immediately before the scheduled departure of the QFT flight.
- Facilitates flights (QT flights) between the State of New South Wales, Australia and New Zealand for a limited class of persons who have been in that State at or after 10.30 pm on 26 June 2021.
COVID-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Amendment Order 2021
- Extends the requirement that certain work be carried out only by affected persons who are vaccinated to additional groups of affected persons.
Designation of Higher-risk Routes - COVID-19 Public Health Response (Air Border) Order (No 2) 2020
- Designates specified routes of travel between a place outside NZ and another place as higher-risk routes.
FROM THE REGULATORS
Therapeutic Goods Administration:
NSW Government:
- Advice for Home Care Service Providers
- Advice for Residential Disability Care Facilities
- Advice to Residential Aged Care Facilities
- Check In and Help Keep Everyone Safe
- COVID-19 Fighting Fund to Protect Businesses, Save Jobs and Support NSW through Lockdown
- Expanded Covid-Safe Check-In Mandate Takes Effect
- Face Mask Rules - Updated 10 July 2021
- Financial Support for Individuals and Households
- Lifeline for Performing Arts and Live Music
- Lockdown Extended to 30 July 2021
- New Phase of the Vaccine Rollout in NSW
- NSW COVID-19 Support Package Announced
- NSW Government Assistance for Renters and Landlords
NT Government:
- Business closure - Breach of CHO Directions - Nightcliff
- COVID-19 Australian Hotspots and Travel Restrictions
- COVID-19 Restrictions Lifted
- COVID-19 Restrictions Lifted - Greater Darwin & Alice Springs
- COVID-19 Update: QLD Hotspots Revoked
- Keep Checking In to Stay Safe
- More Support for Businesses with Extended Restrictions
- Update: Additional NSW Hotspots Declared
Department of Health and Human Services:
VIC Government:
WA Government:
- Commissioner’s Blog: Extra Time to Apply for Rent Relief
- COVID-19 Update 10 July 2021: WA Health Directions in Relation to Tasmania
- Eased Travel Restrictions on Arrivals from the NT from Monday, 12 July
- Public Health Advice Issued for Recent Arrivals from Tasmania
- Small Business Lockdown Assistance Grants Program
NZ Government:
- Benchmark Survey Reveals Contentment Towards New Zealand’s COVID-19 Response
- Continuous Improvement of Our COVID-19 Response
- Govt Makes COVID-19 Vaccinations Mandatory for More Border Jobs
- Managed Return Flights from NSW on Hold Till Tuesday
- Pause on Quarantine Free Travel from Queensland, New South Wales Extended
- Planning for Managed Return Flights Confirmed
- PM to Chair APEC Informal Leaders' Retreat on COVID-19
- Second COVID-19 Vaccine Receives Provisional Approval
That completes this edition of the COVID-19 update. The next update will be released on Wednesday 21 July 2021.