Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1        On 15 May 2014, the Senate referred the provisions of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency (Abolition) Bill 2014 (ANPHA) and the Health Workforce Australia (Abolition) Bill 2014 (HWA) to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee (committee) for inquiry and report by 14 July 2014.[1] These bills were referred separately and are reported in separate chapters.

Conduct of the Inquiry

1.2        Details of both inquiries, including a link to the bills and associated documents, were placed on the committee's website.[2] The committee also wrote to 59 organisations and individuals, inviting submissions by 6 June 2014. Submissions continued to be accepted after that date.

1.3        The committee received 17 submissions for the ANPHA inquiry and 22 submissions for the HWA inquiry, which are listed at Appendix 1. All submissions and the transcript of evidence may be accessed through the committee's website.

1.4        The committee held a public hearing on 2 July 2014 at Parliament House in Canberra. A list of witnesses who appeared at the hearing is at Appendix 2, and the Hansard transcript is available through the committee's website.

Human Rights

1.5        The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights considered that both bills do not appear to give rise to human rights concerns, however, did note that the bills may be seen as engaging the right to health.[3]

Acknowledgement

1.6        The committee thanks those organisations who made submissions and who gave evidence at the public hearing.

Note on References

1.7        Reference to the committee Hansard is to the proof Hansard. Page numbers may vary between the proof and the official Hansard transcript.

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