The last two years have seen a flurry of activity in relation to public health laws across Australia. In this article we summarise the recent and upcoming changes that affect schools.
Each Australian state and territory has public health laws. These laws impose important obligations on schools in relation to:
The laws generally require schools to obtain and retain immunisation information, report on students’ immunisation status, prevent sick or unimmunised children from attending school under certain circumstances, and notify health authorities if there is an outbreak of specified diseases.
In the past few years, the New South Wales and Western Australian versions of these laws have changed. Victoria and South Australia are currently reviewing their laws. Meanwhile, along with changes to the laws that affect schools, there have also been major changes to the public health laws that affect early childhood centres in several jurisdictions, including Queensland. Following the Commonwealth’s “no jab no pay” legislation, several jurisdictions have enacted different models of “no jab no play” legislation. The Commonwealth also expanded the Australian Childhood Immunisation Register, incorporating it into the Australian Immunisation Register, which is designed to capture all vaccinations given to people from birth to death.
Below is a summary of the relevant changes that affect schools.
In April 2018, the Public Health Act 2010 (NSW) was amended so that the immunisation requirements that already applied to primary schools would also apply to high schools. According to the NSW Department of Health, this means that in addition to their usual responsibilities, all principals in New South Wales are now required to:
Amendments to the Public Health Regulations 2018 (WA) and the School Education Regulations 2000 (WA) came into effect in January 2019. According to the Western Australian Department of Health, these laws require schools to:
Further amendments commenced in July, through amendments to the Public Health Act 2016 (WA). These new laws can have a significant effect on some schools because they state that, under certain circumstances, the person in charge of a school must not permit a very young child to enrol.
Specifically, the new laws say that the person in charge of a school must not permit a child to enrol in the school before the child’s compulsory education period unless the child’s immunisation status is up-to-date or one of several specified exemptions applies.
Currently, the compulsory education period in Western Australia commences “from the beginning of the year in which the child reaches the age of 5 years and 6 months.” This means that any schools in Western Australia who are thinking of enrolling children before this period begins must take extra care to ensure that the child’s immunisation status is up-to-date or a valid exemption applies. The penalty for breaching the laws is a fine of $10,000.
Victoria’s Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2009 will be replaced later this year. In preparation, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing the laws and proposing changes. Specifically, the Department is proposing to:
The Department plans to finalise its review and commence the new Regulations on 14 December 2019.
Across Australia there is a trend towards stricter public health regulation of schools. To meet current requirements and prepare for upcoming changes, schools should ensure they have up-to-date, easy-to-use systems in place for monitoring student illness and obtaining and maintaining immunisation information.