Media Statements

Today’s story about leave arrangements is grossly misleading.

This is not a new directive – it’s been in place since 2009 in response to the global swine flu pandemic at the time.

Thankfully, these arrangements were not used then and they have not been needed since.

A pandemic is a serious outbreak of an infectious disease, which is only activated during a Public Health Emergency declaration under the Public Health Act 2005.

New South Wales has similar leave arrangements and the same leave arrangements were in place in Queensland when Jarrod Bleijie was the IR Minister.