Australia's Human Rights Commissioner has questioned WA’s ongoing use of state of emergency powers. 

WA, like most other states, enacted state of emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the powers to close borders, enforce quarantine, mandatory mask-wearing and other measures.

WA Premier Mark McGowan is seeking to maintain the state of emergency in Western Australia beyond July, saying this week; “Having the capacity and the powers to do those things is important because you don't want to have let it all go and then find you don't have the capacity”. 

Australian Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay says the long-term use of state of emergency laws is concerning.

“The state of emergency declaration transfers an enormous amount of power to the executive, and therefore to public servants and bureaucrats, and reduces parliamentary oversight and scrutiny,” Ms Finlay said.

The emergency declaration has been in place across WA since March 15, 2020, but Ms Finlay says the provisions were never designed to be used for so long.

“At the start of the pandemic, when we didn't have a lot of information about what COVID-19 was, or what the impact of the virus would be, you can understand the need for that quick and decisive action,” she said.

“The longer the situation goes on, the harder it is to justify the continuation of emergency measures.”

WA’s state of emergency laws do not require the reasoning behind them to be shared publicly. The state government says its decisions for the entire duration of COVID-19 have been based on the advice of the Chief Health Officer, but Ms Finlay has urged for more information to be released. 

“It's not a matter of simply broadly saying the health advice required 'this restriction', but showing how the evidence requires that particular restriction in relation to that particular risk,” she said.

“And also showing that that restriction is the minimum required to actually respond to the emergency so that we're not introducing overly broad restrictions.”

A WA government spokesperson told reporters that the state of emergency laws will continue to be used to “introduce important directions based on health advice”.

“If these declarations are not extended, the directions that have been made for the purposes of managing the emergency, which includes both response and recovery, would no longer be available,” the spokesperson said.

Ms Finlay said improving transparency and accountability would be useful in the event of a future pandemic or disaster.

“We need to make sure we learn the lessons from this past pandemic, and that we can put in place a better framework for the future, to ensure we have those checks and balances properly in place,” she said.