Australia's Human Rights Commissioner says state of emergency laws are getting harder to justify at this stage in the pandemic.
As Premier Mark McGowan confirms the state of emergency in Western Australia is likely to continue beyond July, Australia's Human Rights Commissioner is among those questioning the ongoing use of the powers that have been used to close borders, enforce quarantine, and require mandatory mask-wearing.The WA government says it needs the powers to enforce public health measures
"Having the capacity and the powers to do those things is important because you don't want to have let it all go and then find you don't have the capacity," the Premier said on Monday. "The state of emergency declaration transfers an enormous amount of power to the executive, and therefore to public servants and bureaucrats, and reduces parliamentary oversight and scrutiny," Ms Finlay said.
"At the start of the pandemic, when we didn't have a lot of information about what COVID-19 was, or what the impact of the virus would be, you can understand the need for that quick and decisive action," she said. Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay says governments need to provide more information to justify COVID-19 emergency measures.