Part 12AImmunisation and Early Childhood Services

Part 12A—Immunisation and Early Childhood Services 96A—Interpretation (1) In this Part— early childhood service means a service for the education or care (or both) of a child under the age of 6 years but does not include the following services: (a) the provision of primary education provided at or in connection with a primary school; (b) a service comprising a person engaged by a parent or guardian of a child to babysit the child in the child's home; (c) a babysitting, playgroup or childminding service that is organised informally by the parents or guardians of the children concerned; (d) a service provided for a child by a family member of the child or friend of the family of the child personally under an informal arrangement where no offer to provide that service was advertised; (e) a service principally conducted to provide tuition to 1 child or a number of children who ordinarily reside together; (f) a service principally conducted to provide instruction in a particular activity (such as sport, dance and music); (g) a service where a parent or guardian of each child remains on site and is available to care for their child if required; (h) a service comprising out of school care; (i) care provided to a child by a person in accordance with a parenting order under the Family Law Act 1975 of the Commonwealth or the Family Court Act 1997 of the Commonwealth; (j) care provided to a child under the Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017; (k) any other service, or service of a kind, prescribed by the regulations; Example— Childcare, family day care, pre-school, occasional care, kindergarten and early learning centre services are early childhood services for the purposes of this Part. immunisation record means any of the following records and documents relating to the immunisation status of a child: (a) an extract, or extracts, from the Australian Immunisation Register under the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the Commonwealth; (b) a document of a kind approved by the Chief Public Health Officer; (c) a certificate in writing issued by the Chief Public Health Officer; vaccine preventable disease has the same meaning as in the Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015 of the Commonwealth. (2) For the purposes of this Part, a child meets the immunisation requirements if the child meets the immunisation requirements within the meaning of the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 of the Commonwealth (subject to any prescribed modifications). 96B—Requirement to provide immunisation records to service provider (1) The parent or guardian of a child that is enrolled or attends at premises for the purposes of the provision of an early childhood service must provide immunisation records relating to the child to the provider of the service in accordance with the requirements of the Chief Public Health Officer. (2) Requirements of the Chief Public Health Officer made for the purposes of subsection (1)— (a) must be published in the Gazette; and (b) may be varied, revoked or substituted by subsequent notice in the Gazette; and (c) may, without limitation, make provision in relation to— (i) the times at which documents must be provided under that subsection; and (ii) the currency of such documents. (3) A provider of an early childhood service must take reasonable steps to ensure that the parent or guardian of a child that is enrolled or attends at premises for the purposes of the provision of the early childhood service complies with the requirements of subsection (1). Maximum penalty: $ 2 500. (4) A provider of an early childhood service must, for the period of a child's enrolment for the provision of the service, keep a copy of all immunisation records provided to the provider in respect of the child under subsection (1). Maximum penalty: $ 2 500. 96BA—Prohibition on enrolment in early childhood services where immunisation requirements not met (1) A person who provides an early childhood service must not enrol a child for the provision of the service unless— (a) immunisation records relating to the child have been provided to the person in accordance with section 96B(1); and (b) the immunisation records indicate that the child meets the immunisation requirements. (2) It is a defence to a charge of an offence under this section relating to the enrolment of a child to prove that the defendant relied in good faith on immunisation records (or purported immunisation records) provided to the defendant in accordance with section 96B(1) indicating that the immunisation status of the child was up to date. 96BB—Prohibition on providing early childhood services where immunisation requirements not met (1) A person must not provide an early childhood service for a child unless— (a) immunisation records relating to the child have been provided to the person in accordance with section 96B(1); and (b) the immunisation records indicate that the child meets the immunisation requirements. (2) It is a defence to a charge of an offence under this section relating to a child to prove that the defendant relied in good faith on immunisation records (or purported immunisation records) provided to the defendant in accordance with section 96B(1) indicating that the immunisation status of the child was up to date. 96C—Provision of information to Chief Public Health Officer on outbreak of vaccine preventable disease (1) The Chief Public Health Officer may, if satisfied that there is an outbreak, or a risk of an outbreak, of a vaccine preventable disease at premises at which early childhood services are provided, require the person with responsibility for providing the service at the premises to provide to the Chief Public Health Officer— (a) the name and date of birth of each child that is enrolled, or routinely attends, at the premises for the provision of an early childhood service; and (b) immunisation records relating to each child referred to in paragraph (a) provided pursuant to section 96B(1); and (c) the contact details for a parent or guardian of a child referred to in paragraph (a); and (d) any other prescribed information. (2) Information required to be provided under subsection (1) must be provided to the Chief Public Health Officer within 24 hours of the receipt of the request for the information. (3) A person who fails to comply with a requirement of the Chief Public Health Officer to provide information in accordance with this section is guilty of an offence. 96D—Exclusion of children from premises on outbreak of vaccine preventable disease (1) The Chief Public Health Officer may, by notice in writing, direct that a specified child is excluded from attending at specified premises at which early childhood services are provided if satisfied that— (a) the child has been diagnosed with a vaccine preventable disease; or (b) there is an outbreak of a specified vaccine preventable disease at the premises and the child would, if the child attended at the premises, be at a material risk of contracting the vaccine preventable disease. (2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), an outbreak of a vaccine preventable disease may (without limitation) exist at premises if 1 or more persons who routinely attend at the premises have been diagnosed with the specified vaccine preventable disease. (3) A direction of the Chief Public Health Officer under subsection (1)— (a) remains in force for the period specified in the direction; and (b) may be varied or revoked by the Chief Public Health Officer at any time by subsequent notice in writing. (4) A direction under subsection (1) in respect of a specified child and any subsequent variation or revocation of such a direction must be served on the person responsible for the provision of early childhood services at the premises by— (a) personal service on the person or an agent of the person; or (b) leaving it at the premises specified in the notice with a person apparently employed or engaged in the provision of an early childhood service at the premises; or (c) email, fax or text message to an email address, fax number or telephone number known to be used by the person (in which case the direction will be taken to have been served at the time of transmission); or (d) if the person serving the notice has made a reasonable attempt to serve the direction under paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) but has been unsuccessful—affixing it to the premises at or near to the entrance of the premises. (5) A copy of a direction under subsection (1) in respect of a specified child and any subsequent variation or revocation of such a direction must be given to a parent or guardian of the child by the Chief Public Health Officer as soon as is reasonably practicable after making the direction. (6) A person must not provide an early childhood service to a child at premises from which the child is excluded pursuant to a direction under subsection (1). 96E—Exemptions (1) The Chief Public Health Officer may, by notice in writing, grant an exemption from this Part or specified provisions of this Part— (a) in relation to a specified child or children of a specified class; or (b) to specified persons or persons of a specified class; or (c) in relation to specified early childhood services or early childhood services of a specified class. (2) An exemption under subsection (1) may— (a) be subject to such conditions as the Chief Public Health Officer thinks fit; and (b) apply for a specified period, until further notice or indefinitely; and (c) vary according to the circumstances to which it is expressed to apply. (3) The Chief Public Health Officer may, by subsequent notice in writing— (a) vary or revoke an exemption; (b) vary or revoke a condition of an exemption or attach new conditions to an exemption; (c) vary the circumstances to which an exemption is expressed to apply. (4) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a condition of an exemption imposed under this section is guilty of an offence.