Information-Gathering Powers for the Director-General of the Australian Centre for Disease Control
Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Topics
data privacy disease control government surveillance health data information sharing public health
Introduced by: The Hon Mark Butler MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Jamie Chaffey NAT
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These bills, together, establish a new national body, the Australian Centre for Disease Control, as a statutory, non-corporate Commonwealth entity.”
Mike Freelander ALP
“I am back almost in black to talk about something that I am very fond of, and that is the ACDC. I am thunderstruck that the opposition would even think to criticise our health policy since they have had none for a number of years. Some of the comments by the opposition then are just not true. Hells bells, who made who?”
Sharon Claydon ALP
“We certainly won’t be taking a lecture from the member for Goldstein on disease control in this country after that astonishingly rude outburst defaming all kinds of people and using parliamentary privilege to say what he wouldn’t dare say outside of this chamber. But that’s his style.”
Dr RYAN
“It has been more than five years since the world experienced a global pandemic which led Australia’s dedicated health workforce to recognise alarming weaknesses in our national public health framework. At last, we are filling the gap with our own centre for disease control. I thank the Minister for Health and Ageing for stewarding the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025.”
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. The 2019 COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most significant events to impact Australians in the last century. Some would argue it was the most significant, with lingering physical and mental health impacts still being felt across the country today.”
Helen Haines IND
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. The establishment of an Australian CDC was a key recommendation out of the Commonwealth government COVID-19 response inquiry report. It’s not a new idea.”
Gabriel Ng ALP
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. This is a significant measure in strengthening our nation’s public health system. The bill establishes the Australian Centre for Disease Control, a dedicated and independent Commonwealth entity.”
Sophie Scamps IND
“I rise to speak in support of the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025 and commend the government for establishing an Australian CDC to permanently monitor and assess public health risks, proactively work to prevent them and prepare Australia for future health crises.”
“The Greens have long been calling for the establishment of a well-funded CDC, and we will be supporting this legislation in the House. However, there are some improvements that we believe could be made. We’d like to see the CDC have an increased scope and funding so that it can be well prepared to support our Australian community for chronic diseases.”
Anne Stanley ALP
“I rise to make my contribution on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. Before Labor came to government, Australia was the only country in the OECD without a centre for disease control or its equivalent.”
“When Labor first took office in the term before this one, they came to power on the promise that they would be transparent and that there would be no secrets. ’Let the sunshine in,’ they said, and the public believed them. The public took them at face value as to what they said they would do as far as accountability is concerned.”
Ash Ambihaipahar ALP
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. This bill responds directly to the recommendations from the COVID-19 response inquiry report released in October last year. It reflects on a health crisis that quickly became a crisis of information, trust and certainty. We are still dealing with the effects of a loss of trust in government and public health now.”
Ben Small LIB
“I visit a lot of beef farms as part of representing the electorate of Forrest. Frankly, this chamber has the same sort of aroma in this debate—boy, oh boy, is there some revisionism going on. The member for Barton outlined that she was in her jimjams during the onset of the COVID pandemic in this country.”
Luke Gosling ALP
“I will be speaking about the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. It is clear that, through this bill, we will be fixing something that was shambolic before we came to government. The Albanese government are delivering on our commitment to the Australian people to deliver a transparent, trusted and independent national centre for disease control.”
Zali Steggall IND
“I rise to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. This is essential and very important. These bills will establish the Australians Centre for Disease Control, a long overdue and essential step to strengthen our national public health preparedness.”
Shayne Neumann ALP
“I’m pleased to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025.”
Allegra Spender IND
“I rise in support of the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. This bill establishes the long-promised Australian Centre for Disease Control, a national body to strengthen our ability to prepare for, prevent and respond to health threats. The new CDC will consolidate functions that are currently scattered across the department of health and various public health agencies.”
Sam Lim ALP
“The Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 will establish the Australian Centre for Disease Control, the CDC. This delivers on a commitment made by the Albanese Labor government to Australians to establish a transparent, trusted and independent centre for disease control. Before we came to government, Australia was the only OECD country without a CDC equivalent.”
Barnaby Joyce PHON
“I have to stand and speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 because back in 2015, as the Minister for Agriculture, I moved one of the biggest pieces of legislation that we’d seen, which was the Biosecurity Act, and this intertwines with the Biosecurity Act, on the information I’ve received. Unfortunately, I need more information about exactly how that is fleshed out.”
Tony Zappia ALP
“It’s always interesting listening to the member for New England. His contribution on this legislation, in my view, sums up exactly why we need this legislation—that is, the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025—which effectively sets up a centre for disease control. All legislation that comes to this place is important. If it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be before us and it wouldn’t be debated.”
Mark Butler ALP
“I thank my friend the member for Makin for his thoughtful contribution to this bill, the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025, and for his thoughtful contribution over many years to good health policy in this country. I want to thank other members who have contributed to the debate on the establishment of the Australian Centre for Disease Control.”
Anne Ruston LIB
“I rise today to speak on the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australia Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These bills together establish a new national body, the Australian Centre for Disease Control, as a statutory, non-corporate Commonwealth entity.”
“I am so pleased to speak to the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025. At the outset, I would like to thank my incredible team for their support and guidance as we’ve considered this bill in detail.”
Alex Antic LIB
“I rise today to speak in opposition to this globalist takeover of Australian health, represented by the Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025. These are bills which are going to further entrench the errors of the COVID-19 era into permanent federal bureaucracy in this country.”
“I rise in support of the establishment of an Australian CDC. I’ve got to say, Senator Antic, it was pretty hard for me to listen to what you just said. That tirade was next level, particularly for someone who was on the front line during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was a healthcare professional on that front line with my colleagues, wrapped in PPE.”