Thursday, 28 November 2024

COVID-19 vaccination

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:25): (1343) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Health. I have had no joy out of the Minister for Emergency Services in relation to firefighters who are unvaccinated. I have to raise this again because it is symptomatic of what is happening in this state with the unions making commands and demands over policy and decisions. We have had COVID; the pandemic is over. There is various advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation around vaccination status for COVID, and I see various authorities, including FRV, talking about:

A person is fully vaccinated (boosted) if the person has received a booster dose.

Up-to-date means, for the purpose of vaccination status, COVID-19 vaccination in line with … ATAGI … guidance, as updated from time to time. Current ATAGI guidance indicates Up-to-date means:

For individuals … 16 years and over:

having completed an appropriate primary course of a Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved or recognised vaccine; and if six months has passed since the completion of that course, having received a booster dose.

That was all very well back in 2022, but I suspect no-one has adhered to those requirements, because they do not have to, and the Department of Health is saying, ‘No, you don’t have to. We don’t have to have these mandates in place.’ No-one is up to date. You have got this ridiculous situation, and I have raised it time and time again. I am disappointed that the minister has not taken this up and really challenged what on earth is going on. If there is some other underlying issue around these individuals who are not suitable to work, then so be it, but this vaccination status does not apply. You have got unvaccinated CFA volunteers being permitted in integrated stations, and they have been doing that for two years. There is a real issue here. It seems to be coming from Peter Marshall and the union, who are dominating and calling the shots here, and that is the concern that I have. Whether it is the AEU yesterday with the referral to the Ombudsman on the debacle on education, whether it is the CFMEU and the standover tactics that they applied to Jacinta Allan when she was a minister, Deputy Premier and now Premier, it just goes on and on. What I want to get from the Minister for Health and the department is some advice around what this actually means in terms of in terms of ATAGI guidance, what these unvaccinated workers need to do and whether there is any legally binding reference by the union in relation to this matter.