Police officers on the state border to receive mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations or to take leave

Police officers living or working on the state border now have to receive mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations or take leave, some potentially without pay.

Police officers living or working on the state border now have to receive mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations or potentially take leave without pay.

In two written memos to all employees, Queensland Police Service (QPS) Commissioner Katarina Carroll set out the directives on the heels of the Queensland Government introducing new rules from August 21 requiring every essential worker crossing the border to have had at least one of the two coronavirus vaccinations.

In a directive titled Border Restrictions applying to Queensland Police Officers and Staff Members: Leave requirements, and signed on August 19, Commissioner Carroll wrote that, under the Chief Health Officer’s Border Restrictions Directions, any essential workers required to cross into Queensland needed to provide proof of at least one Covid-19 vaccination.

Police and Emergency services check cars and people crossing the Queensland/NSW border. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

“…It is directed that all affected employees who, in accordance with the Directive are unable to travel from their residence to their place of work, and otherwise unable to work from home in accordance with arrangements approved by the Commissioner of Police, will be required to avail themselves of accrued annual leave, long service leave or Covid-10 special leave credit, otherwise such employees will be placed on leave without pay,” she wrote.

The mandatory vaccination requirement for those working on the border are in addition to an edict given in April, where QPS officers assigned to airports and quarantine hotels were told they must be vaccinated or they would be removed from their posts.

All officers working in quarantine hotels were to have their first of two Covid-19 vaccinations by April 3.

On Tuesday, some officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity, claim the order to have a mandatory Covid vaccination was an “invasion of privacy.”

“A lot of officers are not getting vaccinated to avoid the hotels, airports and border duty,” one officer said.

Queensland Police Service Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture: Caitlan Charles

“QPS … originally (said) vaccination was completely voluntary and was an invasion of privacy if we asked anyone if they were vaccinated.

“Now, this direction only months later. I understand the need for vaccination but is it legal to mandate compulsory vaccination to go to work?”

“There’s no law (as yet) requiring vaccination to work yet here we have QPS and other companies like Qantas and SPC pushing mandatory vaccination.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison ruled out making Covid vaccines compulsory in Australia but paved the way for employers to create their own immunisation policy.

At the time, he said Australia didn’t have a mandatory vaccine policy and that was “not changing” but he said individual businesses and employers could be given several options to stop unvaccinated people from working at or entering their premises.

All Queensland Police officers working on or living across the Queensland border must now have had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine or they could be placed on leave. Picture: Rae Wilson

A QPS spokeswoman said there were only a “small number” of officers living within the border zone who were unable to cross into Queensland, but she did not specify how many.

“If officers chose not to be vaccinated, alternative arrangements must be made such as taking accrued leave,” she said.

“All QPS officers have been afforded the opportunity obtain a priority Covid-19 vaccination to enable them to continue working.

“Officers within Queensland who choose not to be vaccinated will be deployed to other duties or returned to their home station away from quarantine duties.”

A Queensland Police Union spokesman said executives supported the Chief Health Officer’s border restrictions as well as those now imposed by Commissioner Carroll.

“The QPU supports the position of the QPS that those police who refuse to be vaccinated, without a reasonable medical exemption, will be put on their own leave until they comply with the Chief Health Officers directive,” he said.

Long lines of cars at the crossing to Queensland from NSW during the border closure due to the Covid-19 outbreak in Sydney. Picture: John Gass/NCA NewsWire

“Further, the QPU fully supports vaccinated police officers who refuse to work with other unvaccinated police, civilian employees and contractors employed by the QPS who are not vaccinated, because non-vaccinated employees could jeopardise the health of the vaccinated workforce and broader community.”

The QPS spokeswoman said police were not exempt from complying with the border restrictions.

“It is imperative QPS members closely follow their obligations for their safety and the safety of their family, work colleagues and the broader Queensland community,” she said.

One of the few exemptions from the border restriction rule, introduced on August 21, included “emergency work performed by a national defence, state security or police worker,” according to the Queensland Health web site.