The Conversation

Explainer: what are the Australian government's powers to quarantine people in a coronavirus outbreak?

04-03-2020 Author: Amy Maguire, Associate Professor, University of Newcastle

AAP/Mick Tsikas

The Australian government has announced its intention to use powers under the Biosecurity Act, if needed, in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Attorney-General Christian Porter has described these powers as “strange and foreign to many Australians”, but potentially necessary in the face of a pandemic.

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