Follow Boris Johnson’s lead and ditch vaccine passports, says Lib Right

Coalition conservatives are calling on national cabinet to dump vaccine passports to enter pubs, stadiums and hairdressers.

SA Liberal senator Alex Antic. Picture: AAP

Coalition conservatives are calling on national cabinet to follow British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lead and ditch vaccine passports to enter pubs, stadiums and hairdressers.

Mr Johnson decided on Sunday to drop plans for vaccine passports in England following strong backlash from backbench Tories over the proposals.

As with NSW Premier Gladys Bere­jiklian’s plan for reopening Sydney, Mr Johnson was considering requiring Britons to show proof of vaccination before entering a range of venues and businesses as Britain deals with a third Delta wave of coronavirus.

Coalition senators Alex Antic, Eric Abetz and Gerard Rennick oppose vaccine passports and say the premiers – who have the primary power to make public health orders – should rethink plans to give back freedoms to vaccinated Australians only.

Senator Antic said on Monday the plans on vaccine passports left industry to impose compulsory vaccinations against Covid-19, rather than governments.

“Governments in this country should take the lead of the United Kingdom and scrap the idea of vaccine passports for Australia,” he said.

“In the same way that it is not for governments to mandate the administration of medical procedures such as vaccinations, governments should also not allow the corporate world to become the agents of medical tyranny by ­allowing Australians to be coerced into receiving such procedures against their will.”

Senator Eric Abetz.

Senator Abetz, a former government Senate leader and industrial relations minister, said voluntary vaccination was the only way to curb the virus and he was concerned state government vaccine passports were mandating jabs by stealth.

“Boris Johnson’s approach is the right one. I oppose vaccine passports on principle, but they are also wrong on a practical level. Vaccinated people can still contract and spread the virus. The only answer is to get people vaccinated so they get protection; an added passport offers no protection,” he said on Monday.

“These mandates and passports are becoming wider and wider. I am concerned this is ­occurring by stealth.”

Senator Rennick called on Scott Morrison to directly intervene to stop NSW and other states from making vaccine passports permanent policy.

“Scott Morrison really needs to step on this. We’ve relinquished too much power to the states,” he said.

“What is the exit plan for these vaccine passports? Do they expire? Do you need to update them if you get a third booster shot? This is what you see from health bureaucrats who will not relinquish power easily.”