COVID-19 vaccination
Mr ANGUS (Forest Hill) (17:15): (6362) I raise a matter of importance for the attention of the Minister for Health. The action I seek is for the minister to remove the worker vaccination mandates for Victorian workers. I raise this matter as I was contacted recently by a local health practitioner who subsequently met with me last week. This person informed me that they had been in practice for many decades and had provided an important medical service to the community over that time. After recommencing practice this year after being closed for over three months, they were visited on two occasions recently by officers from the Victorian Department of Health, who requested to view the person’s vaccination certificate. When this was not provided the officers instructed the health practitioner to cease work and stop seeing patients. The practitioner has sought legal advice but in the meantime has been forced to shut down their practice and cease assisting patients and servicing the community as well as earning an income to support their family. In the midst of the current health crisis in Victoria this is a terrible situation. The practitioner advised me that they had a sign on the front door stating that they would not discriminate against any patient on the basis of their vaccination status. This sign also stated that given this non-discrimination, a patient may come into contact with an unvaccinated person within the practice. They noted that patients appreciated this notice and that overwhelmingly patients chose to continue with the care offered.
I have also been regularly contacted by countless other Victorians who have lost their jobs or been unable to work due to the vaccine mandate. These include teachers, nurses and other medical professionals, occupations that are currently in desperate demand in the community. Many of these people are now despairing and at risk of losing their homes, having been unable to work for more than six months. Given the very high vaccination levels in Victoria, together with the fact that it is now well documented that the vaccination clearly does not prevent people getting or transmitting COVID-19, surely it is time for the government to remove the worker vaccination mandate. This is particularly so given that an unvaccinated person can—quite rightly—now freely move about in the community and attend, for example, a cafe or pub; however, that same person is still prohibited from actually working in that cafe or pub. This makes absolutely no sense from a medical or a practical viewpoint.
Minister, the ongoing worker vaccination mandates need to be removed, as they have been in countless other jurisdictions both in Australia and around the world. Doing this would enable the Victorian community to finally be united again and move forward together to start rebuilding our state.