Health Workers Sacked Due to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Welcome to ‘Reapply’

A health worker prepares a dose of Pfizer COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a health center in Jakarta on Feb. 1, 2023. Bay Ismoyo/AFP via Getty Images

Health workers in the Australian state of Queensland who were sacked due to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate are now welcome to “reapply” according to the state’s health minister.

This decision follows the Supreme Court of Queensland ruling that the COVID-19 vaccine mandates on police officers and ambulance workers were unlawful under section 58 of the Human Rights Act.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Shannon Fentiman offered these workers the opportunity to apply for their jobs again but stopped short of saying they would be reinstated immediately.

“All of them are welcome to reapply,” Ms. Fentiman told reporters.

“As you know we have a critical shortage of health workers across the globe not just here in Queensland.

“A number of them have been re-employed across parts of Queensland and I would welcome them to reapply for positions in Queensland Health.

The government is seeking legal advice following the ruling. Police Minister Mark Ryan claimed the COVID-19 response was “all about keeping Queenslanders safe.”

“Vaccines work, vaccines keep people safe, and it doesn’t matter what the vaccine is or what the disease is, people should be making the decision to get vaccinated,” Mr. Ryan said.

What Did the Court Rule?

The Supreme Court of Queensland declared the vaccine mandates unlawful under section 58 of the Human Rights Act 2019.

In a ruling (pdf) handed down on Feb. 27, the judge held that the police commissioner failed to give “proper consideration” to human rights when making decisions related to the vaccine mandate directions.

“I do not accept that the commissioner had either identified the human rights that might be affected by the decision or considered whether the decision would be compatible with human rights,” the ruling said.

The court also found that the former Department of Health Director-General did not establish the COVID-19 vaccine mandate as a condition of employment for Queensland Ambulance Service staff.

Judge Glenn Martin ordered that both the police commissioner and director-general of Queensland Health are now restrained from taking any enforcement actions or disciplinary proceedings related to these mandates.

The judge did not address the vaccine’s transmissibility or efficacy in the ruling.

The court declared the human resources policy concerning COVID-19 vaccine requirements ineffective.

“I have not held that the QPS Directions and the QAS Direction were invalid, rather I have held that they were unlawful,” the judge said.

“As each direction has been revoked, the remedies available are confined.”

Reaction to the Ruling

Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth, speaking on the Today Show, admitted he played a role in a health system that pushed vaccine mandates.

Speaking on the impact on frontline workers, he said the ruling could mean that some of them get their jobs back, and it may open the way for civil proceedings and damages against the governments regarding human rights violations.

“I can’t do this segment without acknowledging my own role in a system that promoted vaccine mandates. But I think what this ruling does is calls into question the basis on which those mandates were put in,” he said.

“And it does so, because the Queensland police commissioner by law has to examine the impact on human rights, and it was clear through this case and the evidence which I read yesterday, that she did no such thing.

“She didn’t give any regard to the human rights implications of these vaccine mandates and so they were declared unlawful under section 58 of the Queensland Human Rights Act.”

Dr. Coatsworth noted the ruling opens up questions about all decisions made by senior health officials, senior police, and ambulance officials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Did we have regard to Australians human rights when we made those decisions, and to what extent did we balance those decisions against human rights? And I think going forward that’s probably the most important thing with these decisions, and I think there’s going to be more of them,” he said.

Billionaire Clive Palmer described the ruling as a “great victory for all Australians, especially those who were ”illegally coerced into taking the vaccine.”

“We can celebrate because this is the first precedent in the Western world where a trial has gone the full distance and the court has found a trampling of human rights,” Mr Palmer said.

Further, One Nation Senator described the ruling as an “important victory in the fight for freedom and human rights in Australia.”

“The Queensland Police Service and Queensland Health were wrong to force mandates on their organisations. I said from the start these mandates were wrong. I said from the start they contravened Section 51 part 23-A of the Constitution, which prohibits civil conscription through the provision of medical services,” Ms. Hanson said.

“I said from the start the mandates should be unlawful. I introduced legislation in this Parliament that would have made certain they were unlawful. With a couple of notable exceptions, the government refused to support my bill.

“You didn’t care that people were being coerced into vaccination at risk of their jobs. You didn’t care the individual freedoms and rights you were supposed to defend and protect were under attack. You relished the power state governments were taking from their citizens. You cheered them on. You were wrong.”

Ms. Hanson continued that the decision by the Queensland Supreme Court makes it “paramount” that Australia has a Royal Commission into the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Prime Minister’s toothless inquiry must be abandoned. Only a Royal Commission can compel the secret advice that led to these unlawful vaccine mandates in Queensland,” Ms. Hanson said.