Clear mandate sought on vaccination protocols for business

Australian business leaders are taking matters into their own hands to deal with a vaccination problem that could slow Australia’s recovery.

The unstable landscape around mandating vaccines has Australian business under further pressure.

With no consistent national guidelines, the logistics alone mean that multiple industries have now taken a leadership role in setting and managing protocols during the ongoing public health emergency.

Associate Professor at the UNSW Business School Tracy Wilcox said that while employers were always balancing multiple risks, Australia’s federated structure had made vaccination decisions “incredibly complex for businesses”.

“Not having some clear guidelines from the federal government has not really helped businesses,” Dr Wilcox said.

“If you think of a supermarket retailer or a logistics company that is operating across borders all the time, the complexity makes it really difficult for them.”

Associate Professor at the UNSW Business School, Dr Tracy Wilcox. Picture: supplied

Without the protection of public health orders, businesses currently risk potential liability in Workplace Health and Safety claims.

“The bigger risk in terms of liability is … that is that one employee gives another employee Covid,” Dr Wilcox said.

“The chances of that happening are far greater than the chances of someone getting a reaction to a vaccine.”

Weighing up harms meant balancing rights, responsibilities and the limit of freedoms, she said.

“We have to think about, what’s the greater good and what impact does this freedom have on other people’s wellbeing?” Dr Wilcox said.

The federal government mandate for aged care workers gave consideration to such factors, but the government has so far resisted calls to give direction across other public sectors and commercial industries.

“We are aware that some states and territories have now issued public health orders which require Covid-19 vaccination for people working in other high-risk workplaces. This is a matter for them,” a federal government spokesperson said.

State government-issued mandates include the NSW government’s vaccination requirement for its school workers by 8 November – a decision “based on health advice,” according to a NSW Department of Education spokesperson.

“This means that all adults who work on school sites and childcare centres, including volunteers and contractors, will need to be fully vaccinated with an approved Covid-19 vaccination unless they are medically exempt from having one,” the spokesperson said.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar. Picture: supplied.

CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Andrew McKellar said while the NSW example “seems to be heading in the right direction”, there were a range of compliance and regulatory issues that needed to be managed consistently across the country.

“The issue here is there needs to be some national co-ordination of this,” Mr McKellar said. “I do think there is a role for the federal government to take a leadership position in this, to really be pushing the states to work together (and) provide certainty where it can.”

Mr McKellar said the business community sought clarity in the area of mandating during an August meeting between the Attorney-General and a number of business groups.

After lobbying the federal government to “step up and provide some clarity in that area, they really pushed back on it,” Mr McKellar said.

“They made it very clear that they had no appetite to do that and I think it is leaving a vacuum. That’s the problem.”

Qantas chief Alan Joyce rolled up his sleeve for the Covid-19 vaccination. Qantas has since mandated vaccination for all frontline employees, with an internal survey revealing the move has the overwhelming support of the airline’s staff. Picture: supplied

As one of Australia’s major businesses most adversely affected by the pandemic, Qantas’ employee vaccination survey revealed overwhelming support for the airline’s mandate: 89 per cent of employees had already been vaccinated or were planning to be, and around three quarters said it should be a requirement.

Stood down for 11 of the past 18 months, Qantas pilot Richard Grady said that vaccination was nothing new – he required a yellow fever shot when he started flying 20 years ago. Furthermore, staff viewed its availability “with optimism – they want to embrace it.”

Qantas pilot Richard Grady pictured at home in Balgowlah, NSW, with his wife Renae Grady, who is a flight attendant at Alaska Airlines. Qantas has been one of Australia's big businesses worst hit by the pandemic. Picture: Damian Shaw

“Qantas has had a safety culture and a culture of managing risk for 100 years,” he said.

The impact of the pandemic on their “Brady Bunch” family has been so extreme that his wife Renae – a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines – cried getting her second jab.

“My wife has two kids from a previous marriage, I have one and we have an 8-year-old, so we’ve got 15, 12, 11 and eight … split between the US and Australia,” Mr Grady said, adding: “It’s been a pretty trying 18 months.”

“To have the (vaccine) availability – honestly, you see some poor countries and I actually feel quite privileged. I don’t really view it as such an individual issue, either … I feel like it’s a community thing.”