The Australian quarantine and biosecurity legislation: Constitutionality and critique

Australia's quarantine and biosecurity laws have been in focus recently with the serious outbreak of the ebola virus and the not-so-serious incident involving an actor's dogs apparently gaining unauthorised access to Australia. These incidents have coincided with the move to replace Australia's existing quarantine legislation with a modern regulatory framework for managing biosecurity risks. This article critiques the existing and new Australian legislation, comparing them with approaches in other jurisdictions and discussing some relevant public policy issues. In particular, the article comments on the constitutionality of the provisions relating to the detention of individuals for public health reasons, such as to control or limit the spread of disease, finding the new legislation to be an improvement on the existing one.