Industry, unions warn that vaccine, mask mandates are the new battleground
Business and unions are calling for federal and state governments to take a more prominent role in setting mandatory workplace vaccination rules, warning that the issue would otherwise end up in the courts.
Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox is expecting employers to receive workplace regulator guidance about asking staff for their vaccination status in coming days.
“Vaccines is going to be a huge issue,” he told the Nine Network.
“It’s going to end up almost certainly in the courts.”
Willox said businesses had been taken to discrimination tribunals over face masks and expects similar cases with vaccine mandates.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions wants high-level talks with businesses and government to work out how to achieve 80 per cent vaccination coverage.
Unions have pushed back on leaving mandatory vaccination decisions to employers.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has released updated information for employers after Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected calls to indemnify businesses.
The ombudsman says in areas where no community transmission has occurred for some time, a direction to employees to be vaccinated is less likely to be considered reasonable
You might like
For businesses that need to remain open during lockdowns, community transmission makes mandatory workplace vaccinations more likely to be reasonable.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said vaccination was a Commonwealth responsibility so “it’s entirely a matter for them”.
“They need to step up,” Palaszczuk said, referring to the Morrison Government.
“If industry has concerns, and the unions have concerns, get them in a room, sit down and talk about these issues. You can’t just push it out to the states, it’s not our responsibility.”
Senior federal cabinet minister Peter Dutton said the government would work with industries as major employer groups call for greater clarity.
“We are not going to force people down and jab them in the arm. That is not going to happen in our country,” he told the Nine Network on Friday.
Dutton backed canned food producer SPC’s immunisation mandate and said restaurant owners could decide to deny entry to unvaccinated staff and patrons.
“That’s a decision for that owner to take and that is a perfectly reasonable one,” he said.
Coronavirus continues to seep out of Sydney’s outbreak epicentre with cases detected in Melbourne and Canberra joining swathes of regional NSW in lockdown.
The NSW government is resisting calls for a statewide lockdown but has extended restrictions in the Hunter and New England regions.
Stay informed, daily
The ACT on Thursday entered a seven-day lockdown after Canberra recorded its first local case in more than a year, a man aged in his 20s. Three of his close contacts later tested positive for COVID-19.
Surging case numbers in NSW remain stubbornly high with 345 new local infections and two deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
There were 21 new local cases in Melbourne where a lockdown has been extended until at least next Thursday.
Two women – not counted the state’s daily total – who flew from Sydney to Melbourne while infected have been fined $5452 each.
Victorian officials say the breaches proved the need for the state’s strict border regime.
ACT health authorities haven’t established where the virus has come from but expect genomic sequencing to be completed on Friday.
“That will assist us in identify where – hopefully in the Greater Sydney outbreak – this linkage has occurred,” ACT Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman told reporters.
Sydney and surrounding regions will be in lockdown until at least August 28.
Northwest NSW, Dubbo, Armidale, Tamworth, Byron Bay and the Hunter region are also under snap restrictions.
Brisbane’s cluster grew by 10 local cases but Queensland health authorities believe the outbreak is under control.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese continues to attack Scott Morrison for failing to roll out vaccines and establish effective national quarantine.
“Expecting him to take responsibility is like expecting a hologram to catch a ball – it’s just not going to happen,” he told parliament.
The prime minister accused the opposition of undermining Australia’s response to the pandemic through lacking bipartisanship.
“They have been a constant headwind to the efforts of this government to bring Australia through this,” Mr Morrison told MPs.
“What Labor have been seeking to do is undermine, to put hurdles and obstacles in the way.”
Australia has fully vaccinated 24.4 per cent of its population aged 16 and above with a record 262,314 doses in the past 24 hours.
Want to see more stories from InDaily Qld in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily Qld as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily Qld". That's it.
