He has required federal government employees to either sign forms attesting that they have been vaccinated, or face a whole range of new rules. In the United States, President Joe Biden has much less power to restrict freedoms, but he is using the levers he has available.
The passport has sparked protests over recent weeks. President Emmanuel Macron wants to eventually extend it much further, including to all restaurants, and the passport is set to cover some public transport too, such as intercity trains. Many countries around the world are slowly introducing varying degrees of restrictions on the unvaccinated.įrance has a "vaccine passport" that people must produce to access a whole range of places such as sports venues, cinemas, museums, nightclubs and festivals.
WA's uptake of latest COVID-19 booster lags as second-lowest in Australia.There is talk about a fifth COVID vaccine, but how many should I already have and who is eligible?."And we as citizens have to comply with that." Read more about COVID vaccines: "So if a declaration is made, that there is a health emergency, then health orders are able to be declared. "At both state level and federal level, it is legal for the government to impose restrictions on people in times of health emergency," she said. President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Pauline Wright, said it was pretty clear cut: Australia's powerful health and biosecurity laws gave governments the right to do this sort of thing.
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"And so in Australia in particular - this is quite different from other countries - our High Court has tended to give governments a free rein." "The court doesn't necessarily want to tie the hands of governments in addressing social problems of various kinds. "It's practical, it's pragmatic, it's about balancing, and this is true not just during COVID but for decades now," he said. He said the High Court would likely be averse to preventing governments acting on public health matters. "There isn't too much that can be done, constitutionally speaking," he said.
In a public health crisis, governments can force people to stay onshore, to stay home and to avoid their friends and family under threat of heavy penalties.Īnd while mandatory vaccination has been explicitly ruled out many times, legal experts say governments can certainly make life difficult for the unvaccinated if they want to.Īssociate professor Ron Levy from the Australian National University, who specialises in constitutional law, said any legal challenge to restricting the unvaccinated would face an uphill battle in the courts. The pandemic has provided a striking demonstration of just how powerful some legislation is in overruling rights plenty of people have taken for granted. So what's being proposed?Īnnouncing the four-phase plan last week, Scott Morrison said "special rules" for the vaccinated were still being worked out. But it will be a significant shift once it comes. That is when both the Australian population reaches 70 per cent fully vaccinated, and a state wanting to move forward hits the same threshold.Ĭatch up on the latest COVID-19 news here The shift is due to occur when parts of the country move to phase b.
The Prime Minister argues it is a commonsense approach - that those who pose less of a risk to others be allowed to undertake riskier behaviour.īut it is also a carrot-and-stick approach: More freedoms for the vaccinated are the carrot, and more restrictions for the unvaccinated are the stick. It might mean more freedom to travel, more freedom to get together with loved ones, or even to go to football matches and concerts. Rather than just asking Australians to get a COVID-19 vaccine, governments will start treating the vaccinated differently to the unvaccinated in an effort to make being part of the first cohort much more attractive. Health authorities are currently pleading with Australians to get vaccinated if they can.īut at some point later this year, once vaccines have been widely available for some time, that approach is expected to shift.
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