Additional comments - Australian Greens

1.1The Australian Greens thank the organisations and individuals who made submissions to the Community Affairs Committee during this inquiry. Additionally, we would like to extend our thanks to the secretariat for their diligent work during this inquiry.

Overview

1.2The Australian Greens have long supported the public health community’s calls for the establishment of a permanent, well-funded and independent Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

1.3The CDC will fill a critical gap in Australia’s public health system by providing a national coordination function for public health data. This will enable greater visibility, understanding, and research into public health matters such as the spread of infectious diseases and the health impacts of climate-related events.

1.4Over the past five years, the need to strengthen Australia’s public health infrastructure has become increasingly clear. Key areas requiring improvement include pandemic preparedness, data sharing between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, and a nationally coordinated response to prevent and manage the growing health impacts of climate change.

1.5The majority of submissions to this inquiry support the establishment of the CDC as outlined in the bill, while offering constructive recommendations to strengthen its design and implementation.

Notable exclusions of the bill

1.6Non-communicable and chronic disease is one of the biggest public health concerns in Australia, contributing to 9 in 10 deaths and 6.4 million hospitalisations each year.[1] There is a clear need for national leadership on this issue, and yet it is not included within the remit of the CDC under this bill.

…putting off the decision about whether the CDC will ultimately play a leading role in combating chronic disease is a mistake. It contradicts evidence and international norms, and will cause uncertainty and delay while the burden of chronic disease continues to rise.[2]

1.7The Australian Greens acknowledge that the Minister[3] has flagged the possibility of expanding the CDC’s scope to include chronic disease following a future review. However, we believe that is not sufficient. In the view of the Australian Greens, the CDC should include non-communicable and chronic diseases in its remit from the beginning.

1.8We also note that many submissions have recommended further expansion of the definition of ‘public health matters’, including the need to expand the scope to include infection prevention and control[4] and Aboriginal health equity.[5]

Data security and privacy considerations

1.9The Government has stated that the CDC should be ‘transparent, trusted, and independent’. For the CDC to earn and maintain public trust, the CDC must provide strong assurances regarding data security and privacy, particularly in relation to personal health information. The Australasian Institute of Digital Health said in their submission:

...CDC must take every initiative to make sure the public has full confidence and trust in CDC, and in particular how personal health data is collected, used, and stored, and how collected data relates to each jurisdiction’s public Health Acts. We said an Australian CDC must be transparent with any data sharing involving international or overseas organisations or governments.[6]

1.10The Australian Greens believe that personal information collected by government agencies must be stored within Australia’s national jurisdiction, and where offshore transfer is necessary, de-identified wherever possible. Data sharing outside of a government context should be made possible for research purposes, and must be subject to strict requirements for privacy, security, and transparency.

1.11Similarly, any requests or directions for an individual to provide information to the CDC must be guided by a human-rights-based approach. This includes ensuring that only the minimum necessary information is collected and that individuals have a reasonable right to refuse disclosure of sensitive personal information.

Lived experience

1.12The Australian Greens are pleased to see that the CDC legislation includes a focus on First Nations health and addressing health inequalities. We welcome the requirement that at least one member of the Advisory Council be an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, ensuring that lived experience shapes the advice provided to the Director-General.

1.13It’s vital that the Centre for Disease Control, and the advice it provides, reflect the diversity and lived experience of the Australian community. However, it is concerning that the legislation does not mention disability at all.

1.14The National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health (NCEIDH) highlighted in their submission findings from Commonwealth Government COVID-19 Response Inquiry regarding the experiences of disabled people during the pandemic. They state that ‘it also stressed the importance of mechanisms to ensure government health responses are informed by people with lived experience and expertise in disability’.[7]

1.15In recognition of this, the Australian Greens believe that the Advisory Council should include at least one member who is a disabled person with expertise in the health needs of disabled people. We also believe that disability health is an important subsection of public health and should be recognised as a ‘public health matter’ in this bill.

Governance and reporting

1.16We note that multiple submitters to this inquiry have emphasised the need for the Chair of the Advisory Council to be someone other than the Director-General, to ensure robust and effective governance.

1.17The Public Health Association of Australia stated:

We propose that the Advisory Council should be chaired by one of its independent members, not by the Director-General. This is simply a more appropriate working model, which will relieve the Director-General of any difficulty should the discussions within the Advisory Council involve complex controversies.[8]

1.18Other submitters supporting this recommendation include the Deakin University Faculty of Health[9] and Immunisation Coalition Australia.[10]

1.19The Public Health Association of Australia also recommended that the CDC’s annual reporting include information on pandemic preparedness, chronic disease, and the impacts of climate change.[11]

Closing remarks

1.20The establishment of an Australian Centre of Disease Control will proactively work to prevent public health risks, be an enabler of public health and pandemic preparedness capability, and improve the health and wellbeing of all people in Australia.

Senator Penny Allman-Payne

Deputy Chair

Greens Senator for Queensland

Senator Jordon Steele-John

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia

Footnotes

[1]AIHW 2022, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-health/chronic-conditions.

[2]Grattan Institute, Submission 10, p. 2.

[3]The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing, House of Representatives Hansard, 3 September 2025.

[4]Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control, Submission 16.

[5]Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory, Submission 21.

[6]Australasian Institute of Digital Health, Submission 2.

[7]National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health, Submission 28.

[8]Public Health Association of Australia, Submission 20.

[9]Deakin University Faculty of Health, Submission 9.

[10]Immunisation Coalition Australia, Submission 4.

[11]Public Health Association of Australia, Submission 20.