Further setback for Qantas workers fighting Covid vaccine mandate

Qantas workers opposed to the Covid vaccine have been sent back to the drawing board in their lawsuit against the airline.

Only fully vaccinated employees are permitted to work on Qantas flights after the airline adopted a Covid vaccine mandate for staff. Picture: AFP

The lawyer representing Qantas workers opposed to the airline’s mandatory Covid vaccine policy has been ordered to rewrite their case for the third time.

The 24 workers, including pilots and engineers, have claimed the requirement all staff be fully vaccinated is discriminatory and in breach of the fair work and privacy acts.

Last month the group unsuccessfully sought an injunction to stop Qantas taking disciplinary action against them until the case was heard by the Federal Court.

On Monday, a second interlocutory hearing was held before Federal Court Justice Darryl Ragiah, who repeatedly expressed his concern about the lack of clarity regarding the case.

Lawyer Rob Grealy for the workers attempted to explain why they believed the vaccine mandate was discriminatory and unlawful, and promised to produce medical and scientific evidence in support.

“There are circumstances in which the Human Rights Act allows discrimination or impingement on human rights where those circumstances are serious enough to warrant that sort of conduct,” Mr Grealy said.

“In our view the risk posed by the virus in the Qantas workplace was not significant enough to warrant the vaccination mandate.”

Justice Ragiah replied “your position ultimately might not matter” before ordering Mr Grealy to rewrite his submission for a third time.

“The pleading to me seems to be unsatisfactory. It’s unclear, it’s scrambled, some of the order of what is alleged doesn’t seem to make sense and some of the allegations, it’s difficult to determine their relevance,” Justice Ragiah said.

“What I think is going to have to happen, it’s going to have to be pleaded in a succinct and clear way so that I can understand clearly for example on what basis you say the directions were unreasonable or unlawful. I just don’t have that clarity at the moment.”

He pointed out Mr Grealy had already had two attempts to state his case in the original statement of claim and then in the points of claim.

“Can I make the suggestion it may be time to consider having counsel draw the next attempt at pleading given that it is an underrated specialist skill. I don’t mean to be critical,” Justice Ragiah added.

Mr Grealy responded that “if it provided some comfort” he was speaking to a senior counsel for that purpose.

He was given a new deadline of March 4 to file a new application, which would be heard on March 30.

In September 2021, Mr Grealy fell foul of a Sunshine Coast magistrate when he failed to appear in court to represent a client because of his refusal to wear a face mask.

Magistrate Rodney Madsen resorted to phoning Mr Grealy who said the court security refused to accept his mask exemption.

Qantas introduced its Covid vaccination mandate last year after a staff survey showed 89 per cent were already double jabbed or willing to be.

All frontline staff were given until November 15 to be fully vaccinated, with the rest of the workforce allowed until March 31, 2022 to comply with the mandate.

Those who have refused are subject to a six-stage process which may result in termination.