Queensland Confirms Vaccine Mandates Removed From All Government Departments

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has confirmed that no vaccine mandates remain in place for any state government department.

During the pandemic, Australian public workers across areas like the police, emergency services, and health were required to take the COVID-19 vaccine or risk being stood down.

Since 2022, however, mandates have been removed in a piecemeal manner across the country, with few governments systematically eschewing the rules altogether.

Liberal National Party (LNP) Premier Crisafulli revealed during the state’s Question Time that fellow party member, Shane Knuth, had prosecuted the issue for “some time.”

“I can confirm to the member that as of today there are no mandates remaining in place for any Queensland government departments when it comes to COVID vaccines,” Crisafulli told Parliament on June 13.

“And I want to make that crystal clear to the member and thank him for raising it and I want to explain to the member why that’s the case.”

Last year, the Supreme Court of Queensland found the former Labor government’s vaccine mandates were unlawful under the state’s human rights laws.

Public Service Needs to Feel ‘Respected’

Premier Crisafulli said the public service needed manpower.

“We are, in this state, facing a number of crises that have to be overcome, and it can only be overcome with a public service that does feel empowered and respected, and it can only be overcome with a public service that has the numbers and horsepower to be able to provide those services,” he said.

“I think of it through the eyes of a Queenslander who calls Triple Zero in their hour of need, they’ve just gone through a horrendous time and something’s happened, someone’s broken into their home, they just want to know there’s a blue uniform to come and help them.

“And that’s why it’s important that that blue uniform is there and at a time when we have seen the level of police leaving the service at higher than what we’ve ever seen it before, what we need to do is remove every barrier to get them to come back.”

Crisafulli also said removing the mandates would assist with workforce recruitment.

“People like nurses and doctors and OTs, we’ve never needed more of them than we need now … we spoke a lot about workforce retention and attraction but it’s also about getting them to come back.

“There’s been some good people that haven’t been given the opportunity to serve and we want them to come back, and it’s the same across the board, whatever department they work in, whether it’s a role that has interface with the public, whether it’s someone who is serving back of house, we need a public service that feels empowered and we need a public service that feels respected.”

‘Division Can’t Continue’

Crisafulli said that the most important thing was for the state to “move on” from the era of mandates.

“We have to move forward, and we have to do so with a way that the community understands that the division that has been experienced can’t continue,” he said.

“And the division that existed for whatever reason must be a thing of the past.”

The state’s announcement comes less than two weeks after the Australian government announced it had amended its COVID vaccine recommendations for healthy children days after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control removed theirs.