INQUIRY INTO COVID-19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) S TANDING C OMMITTEE ON E CONOMY AND G ENDER AND E CONOMIC E QUALITY JANUARY 2021 REPORT 1 INQUIRY INTO COVID- 19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) THE COMMITTEE COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Ms Nicole Lawder MLA Chair (from 8 December 2020) Member (from 2 December 2020) Ms Suzanne Orr MLA Deputy Chair (from 8 December 2020) Member (from 2 December 2020) Mr Johnathan Davis MLA Member (from 2 December 2020) SECRETARIAT Dr Andréa Cullen FGIA FCIS (CS, CGP) Senior Committee Secretary Ms Lydia Chung Administrative Assistance CONTACT INFORMATION Telephone 02 6205 0136 Post GPO Box 1020, CANBERRA ACT 2601 Email [email protected] Website www.parliament.act.gov.au i STANDING COMMITTEE ON ECONOMY AND GENDER AND ECONOMIC EQUALITY RESOLUTION OF ESTABLISHMENT The 10th ACT Legislative Assembly appointed the Standing Committee on Economy and Gender and Economic Equality on 2 December 2020. Specifically, the resolution of 2 December 2020 establishing the Standing Committees of the 10th Assembly as it relates to the Standing Committee on Economy and Gender and Economic Equality states: “That (1) the following general-purpose standing committees be established as set out in the table below. The purpose of such committees is to enhance the scrutiny of the Executive, to examine and suggest improvements to any bills referred to it, to enable the citizens of the Territory to engage and to participate in law-making and policy review, to enable financial scrutiny of the Executive’s budget proposals and to review annual reports of taxpayer funded agencies; (2) the committees so established may inquire and report on matters referred to it by the Assembly or matters that are considered by the committee to be of concern to the community and within the nominated areas of responsibility; (3) calendar and financial year annual and financial reports stand referred to the relevant standing committee for inquiry and report by 31 March of the year after the presentation of the report to the Assembly pursuant to the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004; (4) notwithstanding standing order 229, only one standing committee may meet for the consideration of the inquiry into the calendar and financial year annual and financial reports at any given time; (5) all bills presented to the Assembly stand referred to the relevant standing committee for inquiry and report within two months from the presentation of the bill. Should the standing committee resolve not to undertake an inquiry, the chair shall advise the Assembly and the responsible minister within 14 days of the presentation of the bill in the Assembly; … (7) the committees so established are required to examine the expenditure proposals contained in the main appropriation bills for the Territory and any revenue estimates proposed by the government in the annual budget and prepare a report to the Assembly within 60 days of the presentation of the budget bills; … (12) each committee shall have power to consider and make use of the evidence and records of the relevant standing committee appointed during the previous Assembly; (13) each committee be provided with necessary staff, facilities and resources; ii INQUIRY INTO COVID- 19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) (14) the foregoing provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders; (15) each general-purpose committee shall consist of three members, nominated by each of the three whips, with the chair of each such committee agreed by the members of that committee; and (16) nominations for membership of these committees be notified in writing to the Speaker within two hours following conclusion of the debate on the matter.” The following extract from the table to the Resolution of Establishment relates to the Standing Committee on Economy and Gender and Economic Equality: Committee Primary Wellbeing Areas of Responsibility Indicator/s 3. Economy and Gender and Economy, Living ⋅ Chief Minister’s responsibilities Economic Equality Standards and Time ⋅ Treasury including taxation and revenue ⋅ Economic development and diversification ⋅ Tourism ⋅ Industrial Relations and Workplace Safety ⋅ Social impacts and outcomes of economic policies including gender considerations (excluding Office for Women) ⋅ Minister of State responsibilities (excluding Justice and Community Safety Directorate reporting areas) ⋅ Business and Better Regulation ⋅ Arts TERMS OF REFERENCE Pursuant to clause 5 of the Resolution of Establishment for general-purpose standing committees of the 10th Assembly—the terms of reference are to inquire into and report on the referred Bill within two months from its presentation. iii INQUIRY INTO COVID- 19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) TABLE OF CONTENTS T HE C OMMITTEE ............................................................ I Committee membership ............................................................................................. i Secretariat................................................................................................................... i Contact information .................................................................................................... i Resolution of Establishment ........................................................................................ ii Terms of reference ..................................................................................................... iii R ECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................... VII 1 I NTRODUCTION AND CONDUCT OF INQUIRY ........................... 1 Inquiry referral ............................................................................................................ 1 Conduct of the inquiry ................................................................................................. 1 Structure of the Committee’s report ............................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 2 2 B ILL CONTEXT .......................................................... 3 Background ................................................................................................................. 3 Pre-legislative scrutiny ................................................................................................ 4 Compatibility with Human Rights Act 2004 (s. 37) ........................................................ 4 Summary of measures the Bill is seeking to enact......................................................... 5 3 C OMMITTEE CONSIDERATION .......................................... 9 Emergency legislation .................................................................................................. 9 Measures the Bill seeks to enact ................................................................................ 11 Reporting requirements to the Assembly ................................................................... 13 4 C ONCLUSION .......................................................... 17 A PPENDIX A C ORRESPONDENCE FROM C HIEF M INISTER (15/01/21)19 v INQUIRY INTO COVID- 19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) RECOMMENDATIONS R ECOMMENDATION 1 3.11 The Committee recommends (to the extent that work is not already taking place) after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has passed and the ACT has exited from its state of emergency, the ACT Government give consideration to examining and reviewing the emergency measures that were enacted. This should not be limited to the ACT but should also include emerging evidence of good practice from across Australia and the globe. R ECOMMENDATION 2 3.17 The Committee recommends that the ACT Legislative Assembly give consideration to amending clause 5 of the Resolution of Establishment for general-purpose standing committees to provide a reporting timeframe that allows for these committees to consider the views of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee where inquiries are undertaken into referred bills. R ECOMMENDATION 3 3.27 The Committee recommends that the ACT Government update the ACT Legislative Assembly [prior to the Assembly proceeding to the next stage of its consideration of the COVID-19 Emergency Response Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (No 3)]—why data are unavailable for the seven emergency response legislative measures for which details of their use could not be provided (as per monthly reporting at 30 November 2020). R ECOMMENDATION 4 3.31 The Committee recommends that the ACT Government continue monthly reporting to the ACT Legislative Assembly on emergency response measures provided for under the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act 2020 and the COVID- 19 Emergency Response Legislation Amendment Act 2020. Monthly reporting should continue until such time as each measure, at a minimum, has 12 months of reported data for each measure. vii INQUIRY INTO COVID- 19 EMERGENCY RESPONSE LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2020 (NO 3) 1 INTRODUCTION AND CONDUCT OF INQUIRY INQUIRY REFERRAL 1.1 COVID-19 Emergency Response Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (No 3) (the Bill) was presented to the ACT Legislative Assembly (the Assembly) on 2 December 2020. After agreement in principle, pursuant to clause 5 of the Resolution of Establishment for 10th Assembly general-purpose