Public Health Act 1997

• Health care facility operators, tattoo parlours, and other businesses carrying on public health risk activities who need activity licences or registration.
• Healthcare providers (doctors, nurses, pathology laboratories) who have notification obligations when they identify notifiable conditions.
• Individuals with notifiable conditions, particularly transmissible notifiable conditions, who may be subject to health assessments, supervised treatment requirements, or restrictions on activities.
• Property occupiers and owners who may receive abatement notices for insanitary conditions.
• The ACT Government, including the Minister who holds emergency declaration powers and the Chief Health Officer who implements public health measures.
• The general public, who may be affected by emergency directions (including evacuation, isolation, or movement restrictions) during a declared public health emergency.

Operators of licensable public health risk activities (section 21): must hold an activity licence. Operating a licensable activity without a licence is an offence. Fees, renewal procedures, and licence conditions all apply.

Operators of licensable public health risk procedures (section 42C): must hold a procedure licence.

Premises alteration (sections 24, 42F): alteration of premises or appliances used for licensable activities or procedures without prior approval is an offence.

Persons with insanitary conditions (section 67): causing or allowing an insanitary condition to exist on premises they occupy is an offence with a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units.

Compliance with abatement notices (Part 4): persons who receive abatement notices must comply within the time specified. Non-compliance is an offence.

Notification of notifiable conditions (Part 6): health practitioners who identify or diagnose a notifiable condition must notify the Chief Health Officer within prescribed times. The notification obligation also applies to laboratories.

Persons with transmissible notifiable conditions (Part 6): those who engage in activities carrying a known risk of exposure to a transmissible notifiable condition must take all reasonable precautions to avoid contracting and transmitting the condition. If they have reasonable grounds to believe they have contracted the condition, they must comply with preventative measures or treatment to minimise risk to others (section 99(b)).

Compliance with emergency directions (Part 7): a person given a direction by the chief health officer during a declared public health emergency must comply. Non-compliance is an offence.

Minister (section 18): power to declare activities as public health risk activities, specifying whether they are licensable, non-licensable, or registrable.

Minister (section 100): power to determine diseases or medical conditions to be notifiable (including as transmissible notifiable conditions), subject to the constraint that this must be necessary to protect public health.

Minister (section 119): power to declare a public health emergency for up to 5 days. Each extension is up to 2 days. Declarations and extensions are notifiable instruments.

Chief health officer (section 120): during an emergency, may take any action or give any direction considered necessary or desirable to alleviate the emergency. Named powers include segregating or isolating people in an area, evacuating people, controlling access, controlling vehicle movement, and placing property under the chief health officer's control.

Chief health officer (section 9): broad general functions including providing expert advice to the Minister, exercising public health oversight, investigating notifiable conditions and public health hazards, and reporting biennially to the Legislative Assembly.

Authorised officers (Part 4): may issue abatement notices for insanitary conditions, investigate complaints, and require remedial action.

Chief health officer (Part 6): may require a person believed to have a transmissible notifiable condition to undergo a health assessment. May issue supervised treatment orders or supervised abstinence orders requiring a person to comply with treatment or to abstain from activities posing an infection risk.

Authorised medical officers (sections 13-14): may conduct health assessments and exercise functions delegated by the chief health officer in relation to notifiable conditions.

At the republication date, one penalty unit equals $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation.

Key offences:

• Operating a licensable public health risk activity without a licence (section 21): up to 50 penalty units.
• Operating a licensable public health risk procedure without a licence (section 42C): up to 50 penalty units.
• Altering premises or appliances without approval for licensable activities (section 24) and procedures (section 42F): offence.
• Causing or allowing insanitary conditions (section 67): up to 50 penalty units.
• False representation in relation to licensable activities (section 42A): offence.
• Non-compliance with emergency directions (Part 7): offence.
• Obstruction of authorised officers (Part 5): offence.

The Act uses a civil penalty/infringement notice structure alongside criminal offences for less serious contraventions.

Review rights exist under Part 9: persons aggrieved by specified decisions (including licence refusals, suspensions, and cancellations) may apply to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT) for review.

Activity licence process (Division 3.2): application to the Chief Health Officer, who must grant or refuse within a prescribed period. Licences run for specified periods and must be renewed. Conditions may be imposed. Emergency suspension is possible (section 40); suspension and cancellation procedures apply (section 39).

Emergency declarations (Part 7): the declaration comes into force immediately after it is made (or at a later time stated) and remains in force for the stated period, which must not exceed 5 days. Extension can add up to 2 days per extension. No limit on the number of extensions is explicitly stated in the available text.

Notifiable condition notifications: must be made within prescribed timeframes. The timing requirements depend on the nature of the condition.

Abatement notices (Part 4): require remediation within a time specified in the notice. Appeal against an abatement notice is available under Part 9.

Review (Part 9): specified decisions are reviewable by ACAT. Time limits for ACAT applications are set out in the Act.

• Legislation Act 2001 (ACT): defines how the dictionary operates (section 2), the status of notes (section 3), and penalty unit values referenced on the cover page.
• ACT Public Health Regulations: made under this Act, prescribing details for specific public health risk activities, codes of practice, and notification requirements.
• Crimes Act 1900 (ACT) and Criminal Code 2002 (ACT): general criminal law principles apply to offences under this Act.
• Privacy legislation: the Act contains extensive confidentiality provisions in Part 6 protecting information about persons with notifiable conditions. Information obtained under Part 6 is not to be disclosed except in specified circumstances.
• Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act 1997 (ACT): interacts with privacy protections in Part 6.
• Tobacco Act 1927 (ACT): some public health risk activities may overlap with tobacco retailing regulation.

Public health emergency extension timing: the Act allows the Minister to extend or further extend an emergency declaration by up to 2 days per extension (section 119(4)), but does not cap the total number of extensions. An emergency could theoretically continue indefinitely through repeated 2-day extensions. However, each extension is a notifiable instrument and is thus published on the legislation register, providing public accountability.

Emergency direction scope: the Chief Health Officer's emergency direction power in section 120 is extremely broad, including the power to require medical examinations, require persons to remain in areas, and place property under the chief health officer's control. These are significant coercive powers exercisable on the Chief Health Officer's own initiative during a declared emergency, without any individual judicial oversight at the point of direction.

Notifiable condition privacy vs disclosure: Part 6 creates strong confidentiality protections for notifiable condition information. However, the Act also creates disclosure obligations, for example to protect contact persons. Practitioners navigating both the notification and confidentiality aspects of Part 6 need to read both sets of provisions carefully.

Licensable vs non-licensable vs registrable activities: the classification of a public health risk activity as licensable, non-licensable, or registrable depends on the Ministerial declaration under section 18. The legal consequences are significantly different. A licensable activity requires an activity licence; failure to hold one is an offence. A registrable activity requires registration. A non-licensable activity may still have code of practice obligations under section 20.

Abatement notices vs criminal proceedings: an authorised officer's decision whether to issue an abatement notice is discretionary (section 69 uses "may"). If an officer investigates a complaint and decides not to issue a notice, they must notify the complainant and inform them of available private dispute resolution options (section 68(3)).

A medical practice wanting to expand into day surgery would need to check whether day surgery is declared as a licensable public health risk activity under section 18. If so, it would need to apply for an activity licence (section 29). If the application is refused, the practice can seek ACAT review under Part 9.

A practitioner who diagnoses a patient with a condition determined to be notifiable by the Minister under section 100 must notify the Chief Health Officer within the prescribed time. If the condition is a transmissible notifiable condition, the practitioner also has responsibilities regarding advising the patient of their own obligations under section 99.

A person who receives an abatement notice under section 69 requiring remediation of an insanitary condition on their property must comply within the time specified. If they believe the notice is incorrect, they can appeal to ACAT under Part 9 while complying with the notice.

During a declared public health emergency in relation to a disease outbreak, the Chief Health Officer may direct a person who has been in contact with infected individuals to remain in a specified area for a specified time. Non-compliance with that direction is a criminal offence under Part 7.