Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 and another

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill a second time. In other words, they voted to agree with the main idea of the bill.

What does this bill do?

According to the bills digest (which is a document prepared by the parliamentary library):

The Australian Centre for Disease Control Bill 2025 (the Bill) establishes the Australian Centre for Disease Control (Australian CDC) as an independent, non-corporate Commonwealth entity and establishes the role, powers, functions and duties of the agency and its Director-General.

The establishment of an Australian CDC was a commitment made by the Australian Labor Party prior to the 2022 election. An interim Australian CDC was established on 1 January 2024 within the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The Australian CDC is intended to be an ‘authoritative source of public health advice and information’ for Governments, health professionals, the Australian public, international agencies and non-government organisations. The initial focus of the CDC includes communicable diseases, pandemic preparedness, emergency health management (including management of the National Medical Stockpile), disease surveillance and existing capabilities in environmental health and occupational respiratory diseases. The functions of the Australian CDC are subject to review and intended to grow over time.

The Australian Centre for Disease Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2025 (the C&T Bill) makes consequential amendments to existing Commonwealth legislation to transfer relevant public health responsibilities to the Director-General of the Australian CDC.

The Bill and the C&T Bill have been referred to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 24 October 2025.

Stakeholders have argued that bipartisan support and surety of funding are essential for the Australian CDC to achieve success over the medium to longer term. (CDC Stakeholder Engagement, p. 6)