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Updated November 3rd, 2021 at 13:49 IST

Australia's Victoria state can fire nurses who refuse to take COVID-19 vaccine: Court

A federal court has dismissed the order that would stop Victoria’s largest public health service from firing the nurses who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Victoria
IMAGE: Unsplash | Image:self
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A federal court in Australia has dismissed the order that would stop Victoria’s largest public health service from firing the nurses who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine or refused to disclose their vaccination status. As per The Guardian report, the court ruled that the injunction challenging the Coronavirus vaccine mandate will not be put to trial.

Reportedly, Nick Ferrett QC who represented around 90 nurses at Monash Health, told the court on Wednesday, 2 November that under Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, the nurses have to be consulted before any disciplinary action is taken against them. 

The media outlet quoted Ferrett as saying, “There’s no suggestion that any of the…relevant employees…is dogmatic about vaccines, and unwilling in all circumstances to get vaccinated...So consultation has value in those circumstances.”

Victoria’s chief health officer’s directive on vaccine

Victoria’s chief health officer’s directive under the Public Health Act has made it evident that the health workers in the Australian state must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It also states that the first dose should be administered by 29 October in a bid to work in a healthcare setting.

They are required to provide evidence of vaccination to their employer. However, the federal court Justice John Snaden has reportedly said that there was “no evidence” that Monash Health was trying to prevent the nurses from exercising their workplace rights by starting the disciplinary action to fire them.

“On the contrary, the evidence that there very much suggests that the course that has been plotted has been plotted because Monash Health has formed the view that under the public health directions by which it is bound, they’re not permitted to do anything else [other than terminate employment],” he said, as per the report.

But, Ferret argued that if Monash Health had started the disciplinary action because the workers were asserting their rights and pushing to be consulted should be determined in the trial. But, Snaden said that the nurses “can’t point to anything in the way of evidence that substantiates their contention.”

The Justice said, “The relevant employees maintain that they ought to have been consulted about the vaccination direction and that the disciplinary action to which they are imminent to be subjected will be visited upon them because they possessed, and or, sought to exercise that right to be consulted.”

(IMAGE: Unsplash/Representative)

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Published November 3rd, 2021 at 13:49 IST

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