A legal challenge to mandatory COVID-19 vaccine requirements for some NSW workers has been launched in the state’s highest court, as virus infections continue to climb by more than a thousand cases per day.
Sydney solicitor Tony Nikolic on Wednesday filed the suit against Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant in the NSW Supreme Court, with the matter due to be heard for the first time on Friday.
Law firm Ashley, Francina, Leonard and Associates argues the public health orders requiring “a broad class of workers” be vaccinated is illegal and unconstitutional, as are the extra powers granted to police to enforce public health orders.
“We have received thousands of inquiries from front-line workers – police, paramedics, nurses, aged care (staff), doctors, firefighters – construction workers, teachers, airline staff, miners, truck drivers, university students, mums and dads and, importantly, employers,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“It is our view that vaccine compulsion strips citizens of their basic human rights, including their right to work, their right to bodily integrity and their right to informed consent to medical treatment without coercion.”
The suit will seek a declaration that the NSW public health orders are invalid and a ban on any further orders made by Mr Hazzard and Dr Chant.