The Queensland Supreme Court, in a recent judgment, found that mandatory Covid vaccination orders for that state’s police and ambulance service workers were made unlawfully. These orders required such workers to take the Covid jab, and any boosters, over 2021 and 2022, or face disciplinary action, including termination of employment.

In a decision described as a ‘bombshell’, the court held that Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll failed to give proper consideration to human rights relevant to the decision to issue the vaccine mandate. In particular, the court found these workers were required to undergo a medical procedure without full consent.

Former Department of Health director-general Dr John Wakefield was unable to prove he issued the vaccine mandate under an implied term of the employment agreements for ambulance service workers, in that it was a ‘lawful and reasonable’ direction.

Back in April 2021 (yes, almost three years ago), I – along with many others in this esteemed publication – argued exactly these things. At that time Fair Work Australia handed down a decision that it was lawful for an employer to require a worker to have the flu jab and we were all told that this meant it would be okay to force workers to have the Covid jab.

As you can see in the piece, I said, ‘Not so fast, the principles of informed consent cannot necessarily be overridden by what an employer may consider to be a “lawful and reasonable” direction.’

As the Editor-in-Chief of this publication has said in the past (and I’m paraphrasing): ‘What we say early on – and is dismissed – ends up being proved to be correct.’