Australian citizens interact with businesses every day, but whether those businesses have policies requiring their staff to have proof of Covid vaccination is often unclear.
The Mandate Update project aims to document which employers are currently mandating Covid vaccinations for their staff.
This is intended to help citizens from both sides of the debate on the ethics of mandated vaccination to make informed choices about where they work and do business.
Spectator Australia readers are the first to hear of the project’s preliminary findings.
Of course, employers must comply with state and territory requirements, but these have been pruned back massively by premiers and health officials over the past six months.
In the ACT, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory, no workers are required to be vaccinated against Covid.
In other states, mandates are restricted to people working in aged care, health services, and disability support services, with the precise requirements varying by state.
To be clear, this means no state or territory requires workers in other industries to be vaccinated except in a few situations where they are working in healthcare settings – for example, a florist in a hospital.
Yet as we go about our daily lives, we interact with companies that are enforcing Covid vaccine requirements on their staff over and above what is mandated by state governments.
Let’s start with shopping for food. The big three supermarkets, Aldi, Coles, and Woolworths all announced vaccine mandates for their staff on (or around) October 21, 2021. It appears that these mandates remain in place.
Harris Farm Markets have not responded to recent requests for information, but when they last replied, in August, they preferred not to comment.
Meanwhile, at IGA supermarkets, the policy surrounding Covid vaccination for staff remains up to the owner of the individual store.
Turning to entertainment, Sydney Opera House requires anyone going backstage to show proof of being ‘fully vaccinated’. Their definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ is that a person has had ‘all required Covid vaccinations’ presumably as defined by state government advice. Since no Covid vaccination are required in NSW for people working in concert halls, perhaps a person who has decided not to have them also meets these ‘requirements’?
Sydney Water is another company mandating Covid vaccinations for staff, although this is not required by the state of NSW.
In banking, Westpac and the CBA, like the big supermarkets, publicly announced that they were mandating Covid vaccinations for their staff in October 2021. CBA removed all mandates on September 1, this year, and Westpac followed suit on October 17. ANZ prefers not to disclose its policy while the NAB says that its vaccination directives to staff have been ‘directly in line with government health advice’ throughout the pandemic. Hence, its staff are now not required to have the injections.
Myer, David Jones, and Bunnings say they have removed vaccination requirements as government and public health mandates for retail workers have been revoked around the nation.
Meanwhile, some employers, who have found the idea of mandating Covid vaccinations morally distasteful, have endeavoured not to add pressure on their employees while still meeting their legal obligations. Sam Kennard, CEO of Kennard’s Self Storage, and Keith Cullen, CEO of WT Financial Group, both say they are proud never to have mandated Covid vaccinations for their staff.
The data for the first 27 employers contacted by the Mandate Update Project can be found at www.clarityonhealth.org. Obtaining the information and keeping it up to date is a big job, so we are asking for volunteers who could spend one or two hours a week emailing and phoning companies for information. To volunteer, please email editor@clarityonhealth.org
