A Fair Work Commission (FWC) deputy president who railed against vaccine mandates will be barred from hearing workplace vaccination matters and will be excluded from full bench work until she completes training.
Deputy president Lyndall Dean last month likened vaccination mandates to “medical apartheid and segregation” and said the concept is “the antithesis of our democratic way of life and everything we value”.
She made the remarks in a dissenting judgment in an unfair dismissal case involving a woman who was fired from her job at a nursing home for refusing to get a flu shot.
On Wednesday, it was revealed Ms Dean had also expressed support for a social media post that argued public-health measures implemented during the pandemic are akin to “Chinese-style totalitarian social control”.
In response to the LinkedIn post, which also suggested the world is on the brink of a catastrophe on par with the Holocaust, Ms Dean commented “I fully agree”.
FWC General Manager Murray Furlong told Senate Estimates on Wednesday that commission President Iain Ross had received a complaint in relation to Ms Dean.
“While the President does not have power to discipline members, he has certain powers to deal with complaints about members,” he said.
Mr Furlong said the President wrote to Ms Dean directing her to “attend training on responsibilities and standards of professional conduct expected of a member of the commission”.
“She will be excluded from all and any further full bench work at least until she’s completed that training,” Mr Furlong told Senate estimates.