An appeals court has found it “inconceivable” that legislation aimed at protecting public health would not have afforded the New South Wales health minister the power to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers, given the outbreak of the Delta strain of the coronavirus.
Victorian workers challenging the government’s health directions requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 have lost their second bid to disqualify the judge hearing the case on the ground of apprehended bias.
A judge has made the “regrettable” call to postpone the trial in a case brought by workers challenging the Victorian government’s COVID-19 health directions until after they expire, blaming the workers for creating a series of “fruitless” delays.
A group of 134 workers in healthcare, education and construction have argued a judge should grant them a temporary exemption from Victoria’s direction mandating essential employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 to work outside their homes.
A court has dismissed challenges to the New South Wales public health orders that made it mandatory for certain workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, declaring they did not breach workers’ rights to bodily integrity.
The New South Wales government has accused anti-vaccination advocates of having a “misguided” and “one-dimensional focus” on the fundamental rights of the individual over those of a community contending with the highly-contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.
Individuals challenging public health orders mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for certain workers in New South Wales have told a court “the line was crossed” when the state government threatened their livelihoods.
Health experts have told a court hearing a challenge to a requirement that certain workers get the COVID-19 jab that vaccinations are an effective tool in the fight against the coronavirus, despite the global surge of ‘breakthrough’ infections caused by the outbreak of the highly-infectious Delta strain.
A judge has ruled legal challenges to orders requiring COVID-19 vaccines for certain workers in New South Wales are not exceptional enough to warrant the disclosure of cabinet documents, with the judge noting he did not think the state health minister’s orders made vaccines “mandatory”.
Cases challenging the NSW government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the state’s police officers, teachers and healthcare workers are exceptional enough to warrant production by the government of documents presented to state cabinet before the public health order, a court has heard.