This documents comments on the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment (Pandemic Management) Bill 2021 and includes consideration of aspects of the Bill that are positive, as well as areas where the Bill can be improved

While the objectives  of the Bill in seeking to increase engagement in the community and to enhance community safety are laudable, the manner in which they are sought to be achieved is inapt and the proposals go well beyond what is required to meet those objectives.

Complainants and victims of crime are entitled to be part of a society that respects and protects their human rights. As we have previously submitted, Liberty Victoria strongly supports the view that complainants and victims of crime should be treated with courtesy, respect and dignity throughout the criminal justice process. We support the governing principles set out in the Victims’ Charter Act 2006 (Vic) in relation to the treatment of persons adversely affected by crime.

At the outset broadly and generally speaking, the Bill introduces powers for State-authorised hacking (also known as: lawful hacking, government hacking, computer network operations, network exploitative techniques). It is our position that Australia does not have an adequate federal human rights framework. Therefore, should the Bill come into force, Australians do not have sufficient safeguards of their fundamental rights to protect them from abuse of power by authorities.

Liberty Victoria is concerned that businesses sourcing labour from the on-demand workforce may be doing so in order to obfuscate the reality of their relationships with workers, and to exploit the uncertainty the current common law test creates

Liberty Victoria is concerned that the Australian Government is failing to uphold its international and domestic human rights obligations in relation to the on-demand workforce. Many protections enshrined in the FW Act do not extend to on-demand workers who are not characterised as employees under the common law test.

Read Liberty Victoria's submission to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act Engagement Paper.
The provision of quality mental health treatment has the capacity to positively impact
upon people experiencing mental illness. However, there are circumstances in which
the provision of such treatment — and the provision of compulsory treatment in
particular — has the capacity to significantly curtail the rights and freedoms of
consumers. Accordingly, it is vital that promoting and protecting human rights should

We accept that extremist movements and actors pose a significant threat to the Australian Community. However, over the past two decades there has been a focus on the danger of Islamist extremism at the expense of proper attention being given to the resurgence of farright extremism.   As demonstrated by the Christchurch massacre, the danger of far-right extremism is all too real, can be fostered by Australian far-right movements, and can result in tragedy close to home.