Toowoomba Regional Council seeks legal advice over vaccine mandate for staff

Should all council employees be mandated to get the jab? It’s a question the organisation is seeking legal advice on as the December 17 deadline approaches.

TRC CEO Brian Pidgeon and TRC Mayor Paul Antonio.Picture: Kevin Farmer

One of the Toowoomba region’s biggest employers has yet to declare whether it will require its staff to be vaccinated, just a month before a wave of restrictions come into effect.

The Toowoomba Regional Council, which has more than 1600 staff across a variety of sectors, is seeking legal advice on whether it can enforce a mandate.

It comes just four weeks out from the December 17 deadline imposed by the State Government, which will restrict unvaccinated people from entering a number of businesses, venues and facilities.

Council CEO Brian Pidgeon confirmed at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting the region’s libraries, art galleries and other public areas would be included as part of the restrictions.

However, the council has yet to determine whether staff who aren’t vaccinated will be allowed to work in those areas.

“The logistics (are) of ensuring we can do that to meet our requirements under law but also trying to satisfy and keep our customers happy and calm,” Mr Pidgeon said at the meeting.

“There’s a lot of angst potentially for people who are used to a service that they might not be able to access.

“We’ve also sought advice, there have been a lot of questions across many industries about policies in relation to staff being vaccinated.

“That in itself is a major issue that we’re looking for some legal advice on, and we’ve also asked the LGAQ (Local Government Association of Qld) in relation to that to see if there’s a co-ordinated response through their legal advice about the policy position local government should take and whether we should consider it.”

Mayor Paul Antonio said the council was still waiting on guidance from the State Government around the policing of affected public areas.

“We have to wait and see what the definition is from all this — this is the state who is setting the rules,” he said.

“We want to be able to protect our staff, (and) we’re fairly keen to do what has to be done.

“It’s a pretty difficult (situation), and we don’t know how it’s going to roll out.”

Mr Antonio again urged staff and members of the public who were not yet vaccinated to get their first jab as soon as possible.

“We are going to face something in the not-too-distant future and there will be Covid about in our communities,” he said.

“Those people who are not vaccinated are taking a risk to themselves and others.

“These rules (from the State Government) are mandatory and there are fines involved.”

As of November 14, just over 73 per cent of eligible residents are fully-vaccinated against Covid-19.