Ultimatum issued to chief health officer over airport mask mandate

Fed up with the face mask mandate at airports, one major operator is threatening legal action to prove the rule is unlawful.

Marvel Wijaya, 19, a university student from Indonesia at Canberra Airport awaiting a flight to Sydney. Picture: Sean Davey

Canberra Airport has threatened the ACT’s chief health officer with legal action if immediate action is not taken to end the face mask mandate.

Airport CEO Stephen Byron said the “unnecessary” mandate was not only discriminatory but in breach of the ACT human rights act. Mr Byron has led calls by airports for the mask mandate to be eased since the requirement was relaxed in other parts of the community.

In a letter to ACT chief health officer Kerryn Coleman, lawyers acting for Canberra Airport said the mask mandate could no longer be justified based on the current state of Covid-related regulations in the territory.

Canberra Airport CEO Stephen Byron at Canberra Airport. Picture: Sean Davey

“Moreover the mandate creates a tangible stigma around attending Canberra Airport, sending the false message to would-be travellers that visiting the airport carries a greater risk than visiting other ACT premises that are not subject to mask mandates including pubs, nightclubs, strip clubs and brothels,” said solicitor Andrew Corkhill of Quinn Emanuel lawyers.

He said it was the airport’s position that wearing a face mask should be voluntary within the terminal “rather than coerced under the threat of an $8000 fine in circumstances where there are no longer any justifiable health concerns for such coercion”.

Dr Coleman was asked to immediately revoke the mandate, or explain in detail by 5pm on Monday why the mandate at Canberra Airport was “demonstrably justifiable” and “necessary to protect the ACT community”.

“If you refuse to revoke the face mask mandate or otherwise provide a sufficient explanation for it, adversely affected airport workers and travellers may be compelled to commence legal proceedings against you in the ACT Supreme Court under the Human Rights Act,” Mr Corkhill’s letter says.

The ACT government solicitor confirmed a response would be provided shortly.

Canberra Airport was not alone in its objection to the mask mandate, with the Australian Airport Association also seeking the relaxation of the rule on behalf of its 340 members.

AAA CEO James Goodwin said it was not only confusing for passengers but an impediment for airport tenants trying to rebuild their workforce post-Covid.

Canberra Airport erected billboards in the hope of increasing pressure on premiers to reopen borders.

Clinical associate professor and infectious disease physician with the Australian National University medical school, Nick Coatsworth, said the airport mask mandate was no longer effective.

“There’s very limited value in having compulsory masks in an airport when elsewhere in society we’re allowing people to walk around without masks,” he said.

“It would be hard to find a person who goes into an airport and thinks ‘this is a reasonable thing for us to be doing’.

“If you assume there is some effect of (masks) stopping transmission of Covid-19, you would wonder why we want to stop people catching it in airports rather than other indoor settings. That speaks to the consistency of the policy and we know the public responds well to consistency and poorly to inconsistency.”

Mr Byron said he was not seeking a relaxation of the mask mandate on aircraft, just within airport buildings.

“How can our industry return to normal when this is the message from governments and health officials?” he said. “We have critical staff shortages and we do not need this discrimination against our staff, or against our industry and the Australian public when they come into our terminals.”