Qld teacher’s vaccine claims pilloried as case thrown out

A manual arts teacher has been pilloried in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission for attempting to argue that COVID-19 vaccines were “poison” and public sector mandates akin to “war crimes”.

Darren Daunt was working at Narangba Valley State High School, north of Brisbane, when the Department of Education mandated that teachers be vaccinated by the end of January 2022.

Refusing to comply, Daunt was suspended, and lost 10 weeks’ pay, before a formal disciplinary decision was made to dock his pay for 20 weeks.

Three years ago, Queenslanders were queuing up for COVID-19 vaccines, including at this Bunnings in Brisbane.Credit: Getty

Daunt belatedly appealed to the QIRC, where member Chris Gazenbeek this month found the still-registered teacher “holds an entirely misconceived understanding of the nature of this appeal, in that he repeatedly attempts to challenge the finding that he is liable to disciplinary action”.

“Perhaps the most egregious of these attempts is Mr Daunt’s insistence on characterising the reason for the disciplinary action imposed on him as being his ‘failure to follow a direction to be injected twice with what can legally be referred to as an unapproved poison’. He contends ‘poison’ is the ‘legally correct name’ for COVID-19 vaccines … and submits that he is ‘unsure why poison information was removed from the product labels, or why this was allowed to happen’.

“Mr Daunt’s reason for insisting that the COVID-19 vaccines are legally ‘poison’ is staggeringly unnuanced.”

Gazenbeek went on to explain the role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and suggested Daunt had inadvertently drawn attention to Australia’s strict evaluation and classification regime for health products.

Daunt, according to Gazenbeek, attempted to argue points that had been repeatedly rejected by the QIRC in previous cases, including around the issue of vaccine hesitancy, which had already been rejected as an excuse for not complying with a reasonable direction.

“Mr Daunt submits that the direction is not lawful or reasonable because its effect of ‘forcing people to take experimental pharmaceuticals/poisons is shockingly close to being a contravention of the Nuremburg [sic] code and could be considered similar to horrific war crimes of the past’.

“This argument is repulsive,” Gazenbeek said.

“It is also, unfortunately, not an original argument, and has been advanced in many jurisdictions, both nationally and internationally, in response to COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

“Mr Daunt’s ignorant endeavour to compare his situation to that of the victims of Nazi Germany’s genocidal regime will not be entertained in any way by this commission.”

Gazenbeek said the fact Daunt had kept his job, when the department could have given him a far heavier penalty, “serves only to demonstrate the staggering lack of insight he possesses with such matters”.

While there have already been scores of legal cases over the mandates, billionaire businessman and politician Clive Palmer on Friday launched a class action on behalf of Queensland police and ambulance officers following a Supreme Court ruling that the vaccine mandates that applied to them were improperly administered.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.