Liberal MP Tony Pasin demands inquiry into axing of SA Covid vaccine mandates for teachers, taxi drivers
SA’s Covid authorities are facing calls for an inquiry into their decision to scrap vaccine mandates for teachers and taxi drivers.
Coronavirus
Don't miss out on the headlines from Coronavirus. Followed categories will be added to My News.
South Australia’s Covid-19 authorities are facing calls for an inquiry after deciding to allow unvaccinated teachers and taxi drivers back to work despite a sharp rise in cases and hospitalisations.
Federal Liberal member for Barker Tony Pasin made the demand after major vaccination mandates involving education and transport workers were scrapped amid worker shortages on Wednesday.
Mr Pasin said he wanted to know why the changes were made, despite his personal concerns about vaccine mandates.
“I am now interested to understand what has changed to cause the state controller to change his mind,” Mr Pasin said.
“I’m also interested, as I think many people are, to learn what evidence was relied upon in making that decision in the first place.”
In a significant development, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens revoked legal directions which forced teachers and passenger transport drivers to be vaccinated from midnight on Wednesday.
It comes as case numbers soared by 5496 new cases on Wednesday – a jump second only to the record 5679 positive cases on January 14. There are now 31,449 active cases in South Australia.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said “while the numbers are high in terms of daily numbers they are not outside what the predictions are”.
“The key issue for us is hospitalisation rates and they are within predicted limits as well.”
He also defended the call to scrap teacher and transport worker mandates with conditions.
“The mandate under emergency management act was put in place so we could get staff vaccinated as quickly as possible and that has happened.
“The requirement is to be vaccinated but if you are not vaccinated there are other requirements you have to fulfil.”
Work bans stay for other sectors – although Mr Stevens removed SA Police vaccination mandate for his employees, allowing unvaccinated officers to return to the beat, almost a month ago.
Mr Stevens has said all mandates would be automatically revoked once the Emergency Declaration is scrapped, which the state government wants to happen no later than June 30.
“The mandates under the Emergency Management Act were put in place so we could implement quick and effective changes that saw staff in critical sectors being vaccinated as quickly as possible, and getting those vaccination levels up to a high standard. That has been achieved and the intention was always to replace the mandate under the Emergency Management Act with a more appropriate mechanism to manage the workforces in these particular sectors,” said Mr Stevens.
The scrapping of mandates will allow about 204 teaching staff to come back to work from Thursday.
Mandates for people in healthcare, aged- or disability-care, firefighters and forensic science staff remain.
Any unvaccinated education staff returning to work tomorrow must wear a mask at all times – potentially even after mask mandates are lifted across the state – and take a daily RAT.
They will not be allowed to work in high-risk areas, such as remote Aboriginal schools, or one-on-one with some students.
“The most vulnerable members of our school communities are a constant and urgent priority for us,” he said.
However, chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier denied the mandates had been “scrapped”.
“I wouldn’t use the term scrapping the mandates, it’s been replaced by a CEO directive so it still has the function of requiring all of the teachers and people that work in schools to be vaccinated,” Prof Spurrier said.
“I think parents will understand there’s been a change in the way we operationalise the requirement for teachers to be vaccinated.
“We are using different risk mitigation – we have higher rates of vaccination across our whole society. The reality is the emergency management declaration isn’t indefinite so we have to be looking at other tools, and that’s why we’re moving to a CEO directive.”
Education Department chief executive Rick Persse said he couldn’t rule out a departmental mandate but would consult before that happened.
“We’ve put in place an interim arrangement that continues the current setting but enables unvaccinated staff to return under those conditions,” he said.
Mr Persse said the department would be happy to re-employ teachers who quit following vaccination mandates “on merit”.
On Thursday, Mr Persse said about 23 schools had class closures, up from 16 on Wednesday.
Two large secondary schools are closed – Adelaide High and Wirreanda – with students on remote learning. One reopens on Friday, the other on Monday.
Roxby Downs High is also closed. Paralowie High has reopened after moving to remote learning last week.
Latest data shows there are 562 staff and a further 321 School Support Officers off work due to Covid-related issues across 352 school sites.
This includes staff reporting as infected, isolating, and caring for another person.
Mr Persse said there would be a new draft vaccination policy out for consultation today that will take submissions for the next week.
He said the department would provide the RAT tests and the masks.
Last week at least four schools shut their doors as principals and teachers dealt with the pressure of growing Covid cases and isolation rules.
Premier Peter Malinauskas has ruled out closing schools across the state unless there are catastrophic reasons presented to him, which he said had not appeared to date.
Under the state government mandate introduced in mid-November, all unvaccinated staff were banned from work at school sites and were forced to use leave entitlements.
Latest figures from December showed only 280 of South Australia’s 30,000 staff in public schools and early childhood settings declared they will not be vaccinated against Covid.
The number reduced considerably on early estimates from mid-November when 685 staff indicated hesitancy, an Education Department spokesman said.
At least 169 staff had applied for a medical exemption from the chief public health officer.
Similar bans were also in place for transport workers from January 3, including bus, train, taxi, ride share or chauffeur drivers.
The vaccine mandate for SA Police employees was revoked in March — with conditions.
Police employees who are not vaccinated were allowed to return to work, but must undertake a rapid Covid test at the beginning of each shift and provide results to a supervisor.
They must also wear a properly-fitted PFR mask.
The new direction replaced the vaccine mandate, which came info effect in November last year.
Mr Stevens has requested for the 28th time an extension to powers granted under the Emergency Management Act. Extensions are granted every 28 days.
The Education Department has been battling staff shortages in recent weeks.
More Coverage
Join the conversation
‘It can be fatal’: Health warning for SA babies as RSV spike climbs
A health alert has been issued to SA parents after a shock spike in RSV cases presenting to emergency rooms – with more than half being young children under the age of 5.
Read more
New emergency ‘threats’ putting SA at risk, landmark inquiry finds
The Covid pandemic, River Murray flood crisis, bushfires and statewide blackout were all declared major emergencies over past 20 years. Now, a major inquiry identifies new threats risking state.
Read more