The Queensland Supreme Court has ruled that COVID-19 jab mandates for some frontline workers, including police and ambulance workers, were unlawful.
Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) workers challenged the mandates in Supreme Court in 2022.
“The two groups were testing the legality of the directions on several grounds of the Judicial Review Act (JRA) and the Human Rights Act (HRA),” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reports.
QPS and QAS workers were ordered to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face disciplinary action, including termination of employment.
The Guardian reports:
The court found the police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, failed to give proper consideration to human rights relevant to the decision to issue the vaccine mandate.
The former Department of Health director general Dr John Wakefield was unable to prove he issued the vaccine mandate under an implied term of the employment agreements for ambulance service workers.
As a result, both vaccine mandates were found by the court to be “unlawful” and to have no effect.
The court also found the directions limited the human rights of workers because they were required to undergo a medical procedure without full consent but it was reasonable in all the circumstances.
The senior judge administrator, Glenn Martin, said the police and ambulance services were trying to prevent their employees from suffering infection, serious illness and life-changing health consequences.
NEW – Covid vaccine mandate for emergency services in Australia’s Queensland was “unlawful” and in “breach of human rights,” the state’s supreme court has ruled.
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 27, 2024
Qld Aus 🇦🇺 Boom 🔥 Supreme Court finds the Emergency Services Covid Vaccine Mandates of 2021 were “Unlawful”… Ladies and Gentlemen, The floodgates are about to come gushing open 🌊 pic.twitter.com/fERpyTCsEn
— 𝙍𝙄𝙎𝙀𝙈𝙀𝙇𝘽𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙉𝙀 (@Risemelbourne) February 27, 2024
Per ABC:
QAS workers were required to have received two doses of the vaccine by December 2021.
The QPS staff deadline to be fully vaccinated was in January 2022 — unless an approved exemption was granted for medical and religious reasons, or exceptional circumstances.
The QAS mandate was ordered to ensure staff would not pose a significant risk to patients and the broader community, after it was determined COVID-19 had been shown to “disproportionately affect healthcare workers”.
The QPS said it introduced its mandate for similar public health reasons, as the nature of police work meant officers interacted with large numbers of people across the state.
Mandates for both have since been lifted.
From ABC News (Australia):
