Mandatory vaccination is ‘antithesis of democracy’: Fair Work deputy president Lyndall Dean

Mandatory vaccination is ‘an abhorrent concept and is morally and ethically wrong’, Fair Work deputy president Lyndall Dean says in a key ruling.

Fair Work deputy president Lyndall Dean says mandatory vaccination is ‘the antithesis of our democratic way of life and everything we value’.

Mandating vaccinations in workplaces or across industries risks creating “medical apartheid” in Australia, a Fair Work commissioner has warned.

Fair Work deputy president Lyndall Dean described mandatory vaccination as “an abhorrent concept and is morally and ethically wrong, and the antithesis of our democratic way of life and everything we value.”

Ms Dean published a minority judgment on Monday in the case of aged-care receptionist Jennifer Kimber, who was sacked last year for refusing to have a flu vaccination, which is required for aged-care employees under a NSW public health order.

The Fair Work Commission refused Ms Kimber leave to appeal an earlier ruling rejected her claim for unfair dismissal from the Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care facility known as Imlay House in Pambula on the NSW south coast.

Lyndall Dean

The majority ruling said Ms Kimber held “a general anti-vaccination position” and that it would not be in the public interest to allow the appeal to proceed.

“We do not intend, in the circumstances of the current pandemic, to give any encouragement to a spurious objection to a lawful workplace vaccination requirement,” Fair Work vice-president Adam Hatcher and commissioner Bernie Riordan said.

But Ms Dean said she hoped the majority decision was “recognised as an anomaly and not followed by others”.

“All Australians should vigorously oppose the introduction of a system of medical apartheid and segregation in Australia,” she said.

“Blanket rules, such as mandating vaccinations for everyone across a whole profession or industry regardless of the actual risk … is a lazy and fundamentally flawed approach to risk management and should be soundly rejected by courts when challenged.”

And Ms Dean challenged the views of some politicians about the unvaccinated population.

“The statements by politicians that those who are not vaccinated are a threat to public health and should be “locked out of society” and denied the ability to work are not measures to protect public health.

“They are not about public health and not justified because they do not address the actual risk of Covid. These measures can only be about punishing those who choose not to be vaccinated,” Ms Dean said.

She said Australians who held “anti-vaccination sentiments” were entitled to the full protection of the law, including fair work laws.

The Australian Industry Group welcomed the majority decision.

“This is the first FWC Full Bench decision on the issue of vaccination mandates to be handed down during the pandemic,” Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox said.

“It is pleasing that the Full Bench has supported an employer’s right to mandate vaccinations where reasonable in the circumstances.”