Entire Queensland public service facing mandated Covid-19 jabs for jobs

Queensland’s 233,000 public servants will face mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations under a plan being considered by the Palas­zczuk government.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in Brisbane on Thursday. Picture: John Gass

Queensland’s 233,000 public servants will face mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations under a plan being considered by the Palas­zczuk government.

While the Queensland government has already mandated the jab for police, public health workers, aged-care and hospitality staff, it is now looking to make the vaccine compulsory for the entire public sector including teachers, labourers and prison guards.

Union heavyweights – who met on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue – have been privately urging the state government to ­extend mandatory vaccinations to more workers.

Two senior Palaszczuk government sources confirmed to The Australian that the state was now considering following Victoria’s lead and expanding the mandate to cover the whole public service.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein last week announced his government was updating risk assessments for each public agency to do the same and “protect the continuity of central services”.

Queensland is one of only three jurisdictions yet ­to extend the vaccination mandate to its 58,000 teachers and aides, alongside ­Liberal-led states of South Australia and Tasmania.

Education Minister Grace Grace said “a vaccine mandate for teachers and education staff is under active consideration” but would not say whether that would apply to private schools.

Teachers in NSW were ­required to have received both doses of the vaccine by Monday, while those in Victoria and the ACT must be fully vaccinated by Nov­ember 29.

Federal Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations Amanda Stoker said state and territory government public health orders requiring vaccination for certain occupations and workplaces meant the unvaccinated were faced with a choice between losing their livelihoods and reversing their decisions not to get the ­vaccination

“This infringement on individual choice may be appropriate in a narrow set of circumstances where Covid-19 poses an elevated risk to vulnerable people such as in hospitals and the aged-care sector,“ Senator Stoker told the Australian Labor Law National Conference on Thursday.

“But some state governments have gone far beyond mandating vaccines for high-risk industries.”

The Brisbane-based senator accused the Queensland and Victorian governments of imposing restrictions on the unvaccinated that risked creating a two-tiered society.

Vaccination mandates in NSW are more far reaching than in Queensland, enforcing the jab on workers and customers in shops, gyms, hairdressers and private health facilities.

Unvaccinated people in NSW will be given the same freedoms as their double-dosed counterparts on December 15, or when the state reaches 95 per cent coverage.

Premier Annastacia Palas­zczuk said restrictions would remain on those refusing to be immunised against Covid-19 until at least 90 per cent vaccination coverage was reached across Queensland.

While the vast majority of Australians had decided to get the jab, Senator Stoker said some had decided otherwise for reasons of health, conscience or religious belief.