New South Wales Consolidated Acts

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 2010 - SECT 62

62 Making of public health orders relating to person with Category 4 or 5 condition or contact order condition

(cf 1991 Act, s 23)

(1) An authorised medical practitioner may make a public health order in respect of a person if satisfied, on reasonable grounds, that--

(a) the person has a Category 4 or 5 condition and because of the way the person behaves may, as a consequence of that condition, be a risk to public health, or

(b) the person--

(i) has been exposed to a contact order condition, and

(ii) is at risk of developing the contact order condition, and

(iii) because of the way the person behaves, may be a risk to public health.

(2) A public health order--

(a) must be in writing, and

(b) must name the person subject to the order, and

(c) must state the grounds on which it is made, and

(d) must state that, unless sooner revoked, it expires--

(i) if the public health order is made in respect of a person referred to in subsection (1)(b)--at the end of the period specified opposite the relevant condition in Schedule 1A, or

(ii) in any other case--at the end of a specified period (not exceeding 28 days),

after it is served on the person subject to the order.

Note : An order based on a Category 5 condition expires after 3 days unless an application is made for its confirmation (see section 63(2)).

(3) A public health order may require the person subject to the order to do any one or more of the following--

(a) to refrain from specified conduct,

(b) to undergo specified treatment (whether at a specified place or otherwise),

(c) to undergo counselling by one or more specified persons or by one or more persons belonging to a specified class of persons,

(d) to submit to the supervision of one or more specified persons or of one or more persons belonging to a specified class of persons,

(e) to notify the Secretary of other persons with whom the person has been in contact within a specified period,

(f) to notify the Secretary if the person displays any specified signs or symptoms,

(g) to undergo a specified kind of medical examination or test relating to the condition for which the order was made.

(4) A public health order may authorise the person subject to the order--

(a) to be detained at a specified place for the duration of the order, or

(b) in relation to an order that requires the person to undergo specified treatment at a specified place--to be detained at that place while undergoing the treatment.

(6) In deciding whether or not to make a public health order, the authorised medical practitioner must take into account--

(a) the principle that any restriction on the liberty of a person should be imposed only if it is the most effective way to prevent any risk to public health, and

(b) any matters prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this section.

(7) A public health order may include provisions ancillary to, or consequential on, the matters included in the order.

(8) A public health order does not take effect until it is served personally on the person subject to the order.

(9) The authorised medical practitioner making the public health order must give the person subject to the order--

(a) information about the duration of the order, and

(b) information about the person's rights of review in relation to the order, and

(c) any other information prescribed by the regulations.

(10) Failure to give the information specified in subsection (9) does not invalidate the order.