STRICTEST IN AUSTRALIA: Date NT essential workers must be vaccinated by, or face $5K fine

Chief Minister Michael Gunner has revealed when unvaccinated employees could be barred from their workplaces and fined $5000.

CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has revealed that some of the strictest Covid-19 vaccination mandates in the world will come into force in mid-November.

In a broad chief health officer direction, Mr Gunner will require all essential and front-facing workers, including ­hospitality and tourism staff, to get vaccinated or lose their jobs.

Anyone caught working in essential roles while unvaccinated will also be slugged $5000, including politicians.

Unvaccinated workers will be unable to stay employed in a role if they deal with anyone under the age of 12, Indigenous people, anyone with a verified medical exemption from vaccination, or anyone at risk of severe Covid as a result of a medical condition.

The directions come into force from November 13, applying to anyone with at least their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. Workers will be required to be fully vaccinated by Christmas Day.

Only workers with evidence of a medical contraindication will be exempted.

Businesses will be required to keep records of vaccination status of employees, including the ability to record future booster shots.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Gunner said the Territory was on track to reach its target of 80 per cent of the population being fully vaccinated sometime in November.

“You must receive a Covid-19 vaccine if in the course of your work, you come into contact with vulnerable people, your workplace poses a high risk of infection, or you perform work that is necessary for the operation or maintenance of essential infrastructure or logistics in the Territory,” Mr Gunner said.

“If you have not received at least your first dose of a vaccine (by November 13), you will not be permitted to attend your workplace, in that role, and a failure to comply with the direction is a $5000 fine.”

Chief health officer Hugh Heggie said that it was the ­responsibility of those who didn’t get vaccinated for their welfare once the Territory started to reopen.

Dr Heggie also singled out social media and religious groups for spreading misinformation in remote Aboriginal communities, particularly in Central Australia and the Barkly region.

“The vaccine is safe. It hasn’t got microchips in it, or 5G SIM cards.”

Despite six or more visits from NT Health, communities such as Yuendumu remained stubbornly hesitant, with ­vaccination rates of less than 20 per cent.

Dr Heggie said that mandating vaccinations in certain settings was a well-established norm, particularly in frontline roles and for travelling globally.

Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker said his officers did not want to pursue a “strict enforcement model”, but NT Police would enforce the law and chief health officer’s directions to prevent ­outbreaks from escalating. “The trade-off is my people literally walking around collecting bodies, who passed away from Covid – that’s a real conversation that the chief health officer and I have had about what is the worst case scenario,” Mr Chalker said.

“The risk is real and jurisdictions are changing their posture, and we cannot sit as an island – we are far too vast of a jurisdiction to try and ­prevent (Delta’s) entry long term,” he said.

Reacting to the announcement, Opposition Health spokesman Bill Yan said the measures were “alarming” and “draconian”, despite the CLP having previously backed mandatory vaccination for certain occupations.

Mr Yan said the CLP was supportive of mandating vaccines for frontline workers only.

He said the planned extreme measures were only necessary because the government had failed to effectively roll out the vaccine to remote communities.

“No one else in the world has gone down the mandatory vaccination route, but we’ve had to do that here in the Territory, because the Gunner government has failed,” he said. “Now we’ve got such severe measures to be able to try and protect the most vulnerable people in our communities.”

Mr Yan said making businesses keep a register of vaccination status was also an additional burden to business.

He also said he wanted Mr Gunner to provide more detail and certainty around travel and quarantine arrangements.

“People who would like to travel … want that certainty,” Mr Yan said.

UPDATED: CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner has revealed some of the strongest mandatory vaccination rules in the world will come into force on November 13.

Workers who interact with the public will be required to get the Covid-19 jab, with the mandate to come into effect on November 13.

Affected workers who refuse to get vaccinated by November 13 won’t be allowed into their workplace and will face a $5000 fine.

“If your job includes interacting with members of the public, then you need to get the jab,” Mr Gunner said.

“If you work in hospitality you need to get the jab. If you work in retail or in a supermarket, you need to get the jab.”

Mr Gunner added workers interacting with customers at banks, barbers, hairdressers, beauty therapists as more required to get the jab.

Employers will be allowed to request proof of vaccination to create a register of staff and their vaccination status.

The registers will also be created to allow booster shots in 2022.

The workers required to get the vaccine include:

• Workers who come into direct contact with people at risk of severe illness from Covid-19, including Aboriginal people and people who cannot be vaccinated due to age or a medical condition
• Workers who are at an increased risk of contracting Covid-19 because they work in a high-risk setting where there is a known risk of Covid-10 transmission or outbreak
• Workers who perform work in essential infrastructure, food or essential good security or supply, or logistics in the Territory.

EARLIER: CHIEF Minister Michael Gunner will announce the chief health officer’s directions around mandatory vaccines for workers in high-risk environments in the Territory.

Mr Gunner is likely to make the announcement about midmorning.

In September Mr Gunner announced vaccines would be mandatory for all Territory workers in high-risk environments, with those who refuse to either be reassigned to another role or dismissed.

There will be three tests to determine if you are worker who has to have a vaccination.

1) If in the course of your work you directly interact with vulnerable person. This applies to anyone who works with or comes into contact with children (eg: teachers and child care workers). It will also include frontline health and emergency workers (like healthcare and police), anyone who has contact with vulnerable and transient populations – like those working in our community services sector, and anyone who works in a remote community. This will also include customer-facing roles – like supermarket, retail and hospitality workers.

2) If the risk of Covid can be brought into their work setting. This will include quarantine and border control workers – where we already have vaccination coverage, as well as places symptomatic people may visit – like GP clinics and pharmacies.

3) If you undertake work that relates to essential infrastructure, supply or logistics. A legal direction will be issued by the chief health officer that makes it mandatory for people working in these environments to be vaccinated against COVID-19 – from a certain date, which will be determined at the time.

An unvaccinated employee will be prevented from working in certain environments unless they are vaccinated by a certain date. An employer will be prevented from allowing employees to work in certain environments unless that are vaccinated by that date.