AFLW player Deni Varnhagen asks SA Supreme Court to live stream trial of her challenge to Covid-19 vaccine and booster mandates

Deni Varnhagen has told a court there’s so much interest in her challenge to vaccine mandates that it warrants an SA-first.

Nurse and AFLW player Deni Varnhagen’s challenge to South Australia’s vaccine mandate will be heard before the state election, but won’t be decided until after the votes are tallied.

The benched footballer has also asked the Supreme Court to make history by live streaming her claim’s entire four-day trial, calling it a matter of “significant public interest”.

If the Courts Administration Authority has the technological capacity to grant the request, it would be the first time an SA case has been broadcast in its entirety in real-time.

Simon Ower SC, for Varnhagen and her five co-applicants, urged the court to accede to the request.

“There are a number of people who have made donations (to the co-applicants) and numerous inquiries to the court registry … there is significant public interest,” he said.

“If the court has capacity, it should handle this matter in the manner courts in other jurisdictions have been able to accommodate cases.”

Deni Varnhagen on the field in October 2021. Picture Dean Martin.

Varnhagen working as a nurse in 2017. Picture: Sarah Reed.

Varnhagen, fellow nurse Courtney Milligan, teacher Craig Bowyer, childcare worker Kylie Dudson and police officers Adam Zacary Cook and Rosalyn Smith are challenging the mandate.

They claim authorities failed to exclude all “obvious, alternative, compelling, reasonably practicable” alternatives that do not affect “common law rights or freedoms to bodily integrity”.

They intend to call evidence from Professor Nikolai Petrovsky of Flinders University, who has claimed he faces the sack for insisting on only taking the vaccine he has developed.

Prof Petrosvky is employed by SA Health, not Flinders University.

Previously, the group called for their claim to be heard before the election, and by a retired or interstate judge to avoid the appearance of bias.

On Thursday, Mr Ower said his clients wanted the trial to begin on March 15, but would consent to it starting two days later so government witnesses would be available.

He said there was not a need, at this time, for an interstate or retired judge.

The scope of the case, he said, had increased to include the direction that workers receive vaccine booster shots because of the Omicron variant.

Mr Ower also asked his clients be granted a “protective costs order”, meaning court costs would be capped at $50,000 if they were unsuccessful at trial.

Justice Judy Hughes listed the costs argument for next Wednesday, and the trial for March 17, 18, 24 and 25, with a decision yet to be made about live streaming.

Originally published as AFLW player Deni Varnhagen asks SA Supreme Court to live stream trial of her challenge to Covid-19 vaccine and booster mandates