Will Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights Survive a Second Pandemic in Australia? A Case Study of the Legal Foundations and Mechanisms of Implementation of Australia's COVID-19 Response

Will Democratic Freedoms and Human Rights Survive a Second Pandemic in Australia? A Case Study of the Legal Foundations and Mechanisms of Implementation of Australia's COVID-19 Response

This article is a case study of the laws and regulations at both the Commonwealth and State level that were relied upon to uphold Australia’s COVID-19 response, and the behavioural mechanisms used by governments in Australia to implement these regulatory policies. The question will be posed now that borders have been re-opened and normality restored in a ‘we will have to live with COVID-19’ environment, whether the draconian restrictions on democratic freedoms and human rights could reoccur unless Australia changes the manner in which these laws and regulations are imposed by governments and interpreted by the courts, especially given the High Court’s decision in Palmer v Western Australia. This question is particularly important given the announcement on 21 September 2023 that the Commonwealth Government was setting up a COVID-19 Response Inquiry to identify lessons learned to improve Australia’s preparedness for future pandemics.

This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in the Australian Law Journal and should be cited as Andrew Hemming, Will democratic freedoms and human rights survive a second pandemic in Australia?: A case study of the legal foundations and mechanisms of implementation of Australia’s COVID-19 response, (2024) 98 ALJ 578. For all subscription inquiries please phone, from Australia: 1300 304 195, from Overseas: +61 2 8587 7980 or online at https://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/en-au/contact.html. The official PDF version of this article can also be purchased separately from Thomson Reuters at http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/subscribe-or-purchase.