Michael Eburn from ANU College of Law told Fact Check, "in practical terms, only an employee of the Department of Health or a person employed or engaged in a health service provider can be classified as an emergency officer for the purposes of sections 184 and 185". The state of emergency was in force on the day the tweet was posted on Twitter. Under the current Public Health State of Emergency Declaration, all of the emergency powers under the Public Health Act 2016 are available to emergency officers, including powers under sections 184 and 185. These powers are only enforceable under a public health state of emergency, as was declared in Western Australia on 23 March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The current version of the act commenced on July 22, 2019, so it has not been amended during the COVID-19 crisis. However, the emergency powers mentioned in the tweet are contained in sections 184 and 185 of the Public Health Act 2016.
The WA list of 2020 legislation identifies COVID-19 specific acts, but there is no "COVID-19 Emergency Powers Act" as mentioned in the tweet. He said the claim failed to mention safeguards and therefore provided a misleading picture. WA's Chief Health Officer, Andrew Robertson, told Fact Check the powers invoked by the declaration of a public health state of emergency had been used to require COVID-19 testing, but no force had been used to ensure compliance.ĭavid Cox, the chairman of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, told Fact Check that the Public Health Act 2016 is "unquestionably a very powerful act, but it is designed to be implemented in very rare and extraordinary circumstances". The legislation states that the removal of clothing must be done "with decency and sensitivity".įurthermore, the removal of any child's clothing must be done in the presence of a parent or guardian who can represent and support their interests. While the legislation gives emergency officers considerable powers, it also provides safeguards, including that the powers can only be used on the authorisation of the Chief Health Officer. In WA, a public health state of emergency was declared in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The act also gives emergency officers the power to use "reasonable force to ensure that the direction is complied with" including the removal of underwear if necessary. The Public Health Act 2016, however, does set out powers that allow an authorised emergency officer to direct a person, including a child, to be tested and vaccinated under a public health state of emergency. There is no legislation known as the COVID-19 Emergency Powers Act in WA. So, does a COVID-19 Emergency Powers Act exist in Western Australia and does it authorise the forcible testing and vaccination of children, including removing their underwear? RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates. The tweet was then shared in the Facebook group 99% unite Main Group "it's us or them" which is popular with anti-vaccination supporters and had more than 60,000 members at the time of publication. There is also a link to the Public Health Act under the original tweet.
The tweet includes a screenshot of Western Australia's declaration of a public health state of emergency and two screenshots that are untitled but mirror the wording of the WA Public Health Act. It states: "Western Australia - They just passed a Covid 19 Emergency Powers Act That will authorize officers to test & vaccinate children at school - this includes removing their underwear."