Businesses make staffing changes to ensure compliance under forthcoming Covid vaccine mandate

Business owners are racing against the clock to ensure they and their staff are compliant under the NT’s soon-to-be-enforced Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

TERRITORY businesses are racing against the clock to ensure they are operating lawfully under the soon-to-be-enforced Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

From November 13, workers from a broad range of settings will be required to have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, or face being locked out from their workplace or a $5000 fine.

The new Chief Health Officer directions – which are thought to be some of the strictest in the world – apply to industries including retail, healthcare, education, the trades, and hair and beauty, among others.

While there has been a spike in vaccination booking in the Territory, some businesses are making alternative arrangements to ensure only people who are vaccinated will be dealing with members of the public.

Stuart Highway Autos owner Alan Thorp says he will cease interacting with customers face-to-face. Picture: Lee Robinson

For Alan Thorp, who’s been at the helm of Stuart Highway Autos for more than 40 years, stepping away from his customer-facing role was preferable to getting the vaccination.

The 69-year-old said he would begin working remotely from his rural property and has trained up new staff – who are vaccinated – to ensure he is complying with the mandate.

“Anyone that wants to communicate with me will just have to keep away and talk to me on the telephone,” he said.

“Because of this bloody mandate, we also haven’t been able to retain the person that we were training for the front, so we’ve had to get another person.”

Mr Thorp acknowledged his decision to not get the jab may ruffle some of his loyal customer base.

“A lot of them come to me for advice and diagnostics on their vehicles and sometimes I go out with them and work it out with no charge,” he said.

“Now they’ll have to book it in and they’ll have to go into the workshop and then we’ve got to charge for staff time. I can walk away from the business, but I’m not going to sacrifice my staffs’ jobs and I’m not going to sacrifice my customers that I’ve built up over 45 years.”

Meanwhile, karaoke business owner Barry Sams said he was lucky to have a “back up” after one of his long-serving employees resigned due his opposition to getting the jab.

“If this particular staff member was my only person, it would be horrendous,” he said.

“But I already had another person doing the job part-time who I probably didn’t need, so now they will step up into the role full-time.”