Senate

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Regional Services, Minister for Sport and the Minister for Local Government and Decentralisation, Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie)

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Amendments to the Industrial Chemicals (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2017

The government amendments are compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Human rights implications

The amendments engage the following human rights.

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Right to health: Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)

Article 12(1) of the ICESCR promotes the right of all individuals to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. This includes the improvements of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene (Article 12(2)(b)). While the ICESCR contains no definition of health, the UN Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights ('the Committee') provides further guidance, stating that the right to health is not to be understood as a right to be healthy. Accordingly the right also contains entitlements, which include the right to a system of health protection which provides equality of opportunity for people to enjoy the highest attainable level of health.

The amendments will further strengthen a system of health protection for Australians by, amongst other things, ensuring that the regulated industry and the regulator are able to transition from the regulatory arrangements under the old law to those under the new law as pragmatically and quickly as possible which will provide for the necessary regulatory certainty to protect human health and the environment to be in place from implementation.

Conclusion

The amendments are compatible with human rights because they advance the protection of human rights, specifically the right to health.