Maryborough urged to vaccinate

JAY FIELDING

MARYBOROUGH locals face being refused entry at businesses if they aren’t vaccinated when Queensland’s borders reopen next month.

Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Minister Mick de Brenni issued the warning during a visit to Maryborough last month to encourage people to get vaccinated.

“From December 17, venues like your local pub, your tavern, it could be your local community club, it could even be your gym or your hairdresser, will be able to impose a vaccinated-visitors-only rule,” Mr de Brenni said.

“That means if you haven’t had your double dose by that time, you might find yourself unable to attend the things that you love,” he said.

“You might not be able to go to a pub or your favourite restaurant.

“We want to make sure that Queenslanders can continue to support their local economy, so the best way to do that right now is to get vaccinated.”

Time is running out for people to become fully vaccinated ahead of Christmas.

“The window of opportunity is closing day by day,” Mr de Brenni said.

The minister said it was important for the local economy to ensure vaccination rates were high in order to avoid snap lockdowns once the borders reopen.

“We can prevent that by getting ourselves vaccinated.”

The Queensland Human Rights Commission says that being opposed to vaccination was unlikely to be a sufficient basis for a discrimination complaint.

However, if people who cannot be vaccinated due to a protected attribute such as disability or medical conditions are refused entry because they are unvaccinated, that could represent unlawful discrimination.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland says business owners must be able to make their own decisions about who they serve.

“They don’t need ambiguous rules to follow, especially if it’s not clear how it helps them or the wider economy’s recovery,” CCIQ policy manager Cherie Josephson said.

“If refusing entry to unvaccinated customers is the right thing to do for the business and the wider economy’s COVID recovery, they need to be given resources to implement that change.”

The Queensland Hotels Association says some venues might see the value in locking out unvaccinated patrons in return for being able to operate at full capacity.

Chief executive Bernie Hogan said it was possible for licensed venues to check the vaccination status of patrons.

“We have been asking people for ID for decades. We have the ability to refuse service on virtually any grounds that would make other patrons unsafe,” he said.

“So this is not a huge change from the rights licensed venue holders already have.”

As of October 25, 59.6 per cent of people living in the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service region, which includes Maryborough, are fully vaccinated.