The Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk MP
Premier of Queensland
PO Box 15185
CITY EAST
QLD 4002
15 December 2021
Dear Premier,
I write to request that you abolish vaccine mandates and restore the civil liberties that you have taken from the Queensland people over the last two years.
Earlier this year you agreed, along with other state and territory leaders, to the National Plan that indicates at 80 per cent vaccination of those aged 16 and over Australia would reopen. This was in line with the Doherty Institute modelling that noted restrictions could lift at 80 per cent as this coverage would ease the burden on the public health system.
Neither the plan nor the modelling suggested segregating unvaccinated people or threatening them with termination from their jobs. There was nothing about denying them access to healthcare, especially those in need of live-saving transplants. In September, when you committed to reopening Queensland at 80 per cent, you gave no indication of implementing vaccine mandates.
Furthermore, the Australian Immunisation Handbook states that one of the four criteria for legally valid consent is it must be given voluntarily in the absence of undue pressure, coercion, or manipulation. Mandating vaccinations as a condition of maintaining employment is a threat and amounts to a significant level of pressure that constitutes coercion. Under your authoritarian policy of vaccine mandates, legally valid consent is not possible to reach.
Where is the health advice that has underpinned your decision to implement vaccine mandates and ban unvaccinated people from venues and services? Queenslanders have a right to know, especially when their economic, social, and mental livelihoods are so detrimentally affected.
As elected representatives, it is our role to serve people, not enslave them. The vaccine mandates are cruel, inhumane, and unnecessary. There is no longer a justifiable reason why people cannot be safe and free at the same time.
I call on you to remove the vaccine mandates and I welcome an opportunity to discuss this further at your convenience.
Yours sincerely,
Gerard Rennick
LNP Senator for Queensland
