Gold Coast City councillor Bob La Castra refuses to disclose Covid vaccine status

Despite council workers facing a deadline to be vaccinated or lose their job, one of the city’s councillors is holding out on disclosing if they’ve had the jab.

A Gold Coast City councillor is holding out on disclosing if he is fully vaccinated against Covid as a deadline looms for thousands of other city hall employees to prove their status.

Veteran councillor Bob La Castra did not attend the chamber for the first full council meeting of the year on Monday, instead voting through a video conferencing hook-up.

Council employees were supposed to be double-vaccinated by February, however, in a twist, councillors who have not been fully vaccinated can still gain access to the Evandale chamber.

Vaccination deadlines for workers were extended to March 31 after council manager talks with unions.

It is believed up to 400 staff could lose their jobs by not having the Covid-19 jab.

Cr La Castra told the Bulletin in a statement: “There are personal reasons for my virtual attendance of meetings, in the short term. The Mayor is aware of the reasons and is supportive, given my circumstances.”

A council spokesperson told the Bulletin: “There is no requirement under the current state government health direction that requires a person to be vaccinated to enter the City of Gold Coast Chambers building.

“However, we implemented a procedure today (on Monday) asking all attendees to return a negative rapid antigen test before entering the council meeting.”

Council sources suggest the failure by Cr La Castra to publicly disclose his vaccination status has sparked concerns about “double standards” between thousands of workers employed at city hall who face a job mandate and its elected representatives.

Other sources suggest some of his colleagues have real concerns about health safety measures because councillors cannot always social distance in the chamber at meetings.

Council sources say vaccination has become an even more divisive issue because the administration, despite trying, cannot confirm that all its elected representatives are following the same health guidelines as staff.

Colleagues suspect Cr La Castra is unvaccinated as he awaits for new vaccines, and many regard the situation as untenable because he has to chair a committee meeting.

The Bulletin asked the council why Cr La Castra and Councillor Peter Young were absent from Monday’s meeting.

Cr Young told the Bulletin: “I’ve been on leave for a while and sought and gained approval from council last year for my absence from the first round of meetings including the council meeting of January 31.

“I had my third coronavirus vaccination shot on 7 December.”

The Bulletin asked if all councillors had received their second round of vaccinations against Covid and a booster shot, and if not what response the administration had received from individual councillors.

Council was asked whether councillors had to be vaccinated to attend chamber meetings, given there were challenges with social distancing, and what was the vaccination status of Cr La Castra.

“An individual’s medical information is private and confidential, and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further,” a City spokesperson said.

The Bulletin asked Mayor Tate for his position on all the councillors being vaccinated and having the booster.

He was also asked if he believed it should be same for all employees, including councillors, unless they have a medical exemption.

“I have consistently encouraged all people to be vaccinated and boosted, this includes councillors. However, I respect it is an individual decision based on health advice,” Cr Tate said.

Asked if councillors could continue to work if they cannot attend meetings in the chamber or their office, Cr Tate said “yes”.

Follow @PaulWestonGC