Important notice ahead of tomorrow's Amendments from One Nation's Sarah Game MLC

Changes to public health law that could permanently lock in COVID-19 emergency powers, and remove legislative safeguards and rights of appeal, will be opposed with amendments introduced to Parliament by One Nation this week.

One Nation MLC Sarah Game said she was very concerned that one of the first acts of the Malinauskas government was to attack fundamental principles of Australian democracy.

“This is an attempt to permanently enshrine COVID-19 powers while removing legislative safeguards under the Public Health Act, that until now have only been exercised under a declared emergency,” Ms Game said. “This is not democratic, this is not ‘living with’ COVID-19 and this is not what South Australians voted for.

“I’ve sought expert legal advice which tells me provisions in the government’s South Australian Public Health (COVID-19) Amendment Bill could undermine current and future action in the courts regarding the legality of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. I’ll be moving amendments to this legislation in order to safeguard democracy and fundamental individual rights in South Australia by having this language removed.

“This is supposed to be a democracy and one of the most important rights an individual has is the right of appeal to courts independent of the government. I’m acting to protect this right.

“I’ll also be moving other amendments which enable some of these powers to be disallowed in Parliament, and others to be tabled in Parliament for proper scrutiny by the elected representatives of the South Australian people. I’ll also be acting to ensure officers who exercise these powers are held accountable and are operating under appropriate constraints.”

Ms Game said it was the duty of all elected representatives to stand up for the rights of South Australians.

“I’m not going to just stand by and let this government interfere with rights that are fundamental to our democracy,” she said.

📸 Tony Lewis, InDaily