Councillors have revealed the intimidation and “threats” they have been subjected to over the last two weeks because of the State Government’s vaccine mandates.
Sunshine Coast Council on Thursday debated the impact on businesses of the mandatory vaccine rules which come into effect on December 17.
A crowd of residents chanting ‘United, we will fight, fight, fight’, gathered outside the council’s chambers in Caloundra.
Opening the meeting, Mayor Mark Jamieson put forward his own mayoral minute outlining council’s intention to advocate on behalf of businesses, which he said he had already been doing.
As recently as Wednesday, Mayor Jamieson said he had written to the Small Business Minister Di Farmer, urging the State Government to provide greater clarity and information to address the concerns of businesses in “a more fulsome manner”.
He said council would continue to “hold the State’s feet to the fire” to assist businesses.
While he was pro-choice, Mayor Jamieson said he did not condone the “bullying” councillors had experienced over the past two weeks which he said was “distasteful and reprehensible”.
He said most Sunshine Coast residents had spoken — not with their feet but their arms —by getting the vaccine, with 83.1 per cent double jabbed already and 91.4 per cent with a single dose.
Mayor’s Jamieson’s letter was supported unanimously.
Next, Cr Joe Natoli followed by putting forward his own notice of motion calling on the State Government to consider the impact of its mandate.
Standing up to speak, Cr Natoli ran out of time during his allocated five minutes but no councillors opted to grant him an extension.
Cr Natoli said he struggled to understand how vaccinated and unvaccinated people could sit together on buses and trains, rub shoulders in supermarkets, be in the same public places but unvaccinated people could be excluded from certain venues.
“Vaccinated and unvaccinated people will be carrying this virus so I struggle to understand how we will keep this out by excluding people who are unvaccinated,” said Cr Natoli.
“I think it’s a false premise. It will spread. But the pain will be felt by that 15 per cent of businesses who go broke.”
Cr Terry Landsberg said it was true businesses would be impacted but he said chambers of commerce had said it was time to move forward.
“This is about our community hardening up,” said Cr Landsberg.
Cr Landsberg revealed he had been “inundated” by people contacting him with concerns and threats.
“I’m sorry that councillors have had to put up with this when it’s State Government legislation,” he said.
Cr Winston Johnston said the mandate would hit his hinterland division particularly hard, especially businesses in complementary health and cafes.
Cr Johnston said it was “nonsensical” that cafes and restaurants could not allow unvaccinated people in but a food court his in division had been told it did not fall under the rules.
He said he could not understand how vaccinated and unvaccinated people could mingle when vaccination levels were at 60 per cent, but not at 80 or 90 per cent.
Cr Jason O’Pray said he couldn’t believe that “something so fluffy” as Cr Natoli’s motion had been allowed to be put to the council.
Cr O’Pray said the reason Cr Natoli did not get an extension to speak was because it was a “grandstanding episode of the highest level”.
Cr Ted Hungerford said he too would not support Cr Natoli’s motion which he described as “cheap populist politics”.
He said council needed to get on with sound governance of the region and its finances.
Cr Maria Suarez said no-one at council had the scientific training to make health directives in the pandemic or decide what was best for the community.
While indicating she would not support Cr Natoli’s motion, she said the mandate was a temporary measure — “not a rule for the rest of our lives” — and part of a road map to eventual normality.
Cr Natoli’s motion was defeated with councillors Baberowski, Landsberg, Cox, Hungerford, O’Pray, Suarez, Law and Mayor Jamieson voting against it and councillors Natoli, Johnston and Dickson voting in favour.
Earlier
Many Sunshine Coast businesses will lose a critical chunk of their workforce because of the vaccine mandate which could tip them over the edge, Cr Joe Natoli has warned.
In a survey written by himself (not endorsed by council), Cr Natoli said 862 Coast businesses were in danger of closing permanently because of mandatory vaccinations (15 per cent of the 5500 respondents).
The owners of 611 businesses would not be able to enter their own premises after December 17.
Cr Natoli will on Thursday urge his fellow councillors to call on the State Government to consider the impact jab enforcements could have on businesses and people who lose their jobs.
But if his colleagues don’t support his motion at the council meeting, Cr Natoli has vowed to take his concerns directly to the premier.
“The premier needs to consider the fallout before she makes this call,” said Cr Natoli.
“You don’t need much to tip businesses over the edge. I think we’re close to the tipping point for a large number of businesses.”
Cr Natoli said people should be allowed to choose whether they would get vaccinated but that should not be taken as a choice to not have a job.
“The State Government needs to do an Impact Assessment Study before they bring in this sort of pain on the community,” said Cr Natoli.
It comes as business owners like orthodontist Dr Vas Srinivasan, from Invisible Orthodontics, face losing almost one-third of their workforce overnight.
Dr Srinivasan, who is fully vaccinated and personally supports vaccines, said businesses had been “thrown under a bus” and not given enough time to process the changes, let alone mitigate against the impact.
Dr Srinivasan said he stood to lose nine staff, which was more than 35 per cent of his workforce, but would struggle to retrain replacements because of the short lead-in time which also coincided with the busy Christmas period.
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From December 17, certain venues like restaurants, cafes and bars will only be permitted to admit fully vaccinated customers (and staff), and will have to police it.
Compulsory vaccinations also apply to staff in hospitals, schools, child care centres, prisons and high-risk settings like dentists and pharmacies.
However unvaccinated people will still be able to attend essential services such as grocery stores, newsagencies and gyms.
Dr Srinivasan highlighted what he said were major problems and inconsistencies in the rules and the lack of sufficient notice given.
“I believe the mandate for the private health sector was brought in with very limited notice. It would have been better if they had done it in say July so we had five months. It would have been easier,” he said.
“Because it’s so close to Christmas, the number of weeks left is not good enough to train new staff to replace them to a high standard.”
Dr Srinivasan said Christmas was an extremely busy time in the clinic with school children on holidays undergoing dental treatment and people with private health cover using up their yearly allowance.
“It’s a headache for people like us trying to deal with this in such a short period,” he said.
But while his staff had to be fully vaccinated, there was no mandate on patients which raised the issue of who would be liable if one of his workers became infected.
“If you’re mandating my staff, why not mandate people coming in,” he asked.
Another problem was the government’s piecemeal approach to announcing industry mandates which was affecting the prospects of employees as they switched sectors to avoid the jab.
For example he said some workers who had left the mining industry because of its mandate had joined his practice, only for that to also come under the vaccine umbrella.
“If you start mandating a different sector each week, you’re not going to give people a clear cut choice,” he said.
“At least be clear about what will and won’t be mandated in the longer time frame.”
Dr Srinivasan called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to listen to businesses about the genuine impact of the big changes, but he feared the government would not budge.
Cr Joe Natoli said he undertook his survey to measure the health of the Sunshine Coast business community.
It was written by himself and not an endorsed council survey. Volunteers walked the streets over the past six days and asked business owners to complete the questionnaire via a QR code. Responses were anonymous.
