Covid Qld: Gold Coast’s Livingstone Christian College has unvaxxed staff

Unvaccinated staff are continuing to work at a Gold Coast private school, including as bus drivers, sources have revealed.

Unvaccinated staff are continuing to work at a Gold Coast private school – including as bus drivers, sources say – despite the State Government’s vaccine mandate for education workers.

Video has also emerged of the boss of the school, Livingstone Christian College, expressing anti-mandate sentiments in a speech to staff.

The Ormeau college, which has received $14 million in Queensland taxpayer funding, has set up a temporary hub for unvaccinated staff to work from after the State Government mandated vaccinations for all school staff.

Christian Community Ministries CEO John Lyndon

John Lyndon, CEO of Christian Community Ministries which runs Livingstone Christian College, told The Courier-Mail last month the school had nine unvaccinated staff who would not be teaching face-to-face classes or mixing with students in high-risk settings.

Sources say unvaccinated staff are being used to drive school buses and are also teaching remotely from a fenced-off hub behind the college’s sports centre.

A video of Mr Lyndon addressing staff last month before school resumed shows him describing the vaccination mandate for education staff as ``terrible timing” and a “blight on the Palaszczuk Government” which had forced schools to “scramble”.

Mr Lyndon said he was double-vaccinated but his personal view, and that of the Christian Community Ministries board, was that compulsory vaccination was a breach of individual freedom.

“It’s not our preferred position, but in order to continue operating, we’ve made the decision that we will comply,” he said.

But Mr Lyndon said the college had made arrangements to accommodate staff who had chosen not to be vaccinated.

He said the vaccine mandate applied to staff in a high-risk setting, which meant unvaccinated staff could be on school grounds before and after school.

“When students are not here, it is not a high-risk setting and the mandate does not apply,” he told staff.

“We’ve done our best to not only comply with the mandate but to care for staff who, for their own good reasons, have decided not to be vaccinated.”

Mr Lyndon also warned staff against speaking to the media.

“The only person that’s entitled to speak to the media in the whole of our organisation is me,” he said.

Mr Lyndon did not respond to The Courier-Mail’s request for comment.

Christian Community Ministries runs 12 schools across Australia.

Livingstone Christian College at Ormeau