CORONAVIRUS —
FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES — MANDATORY VACCINATION
565. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the Minister for Emergency Services:
I ask a question on behalf of Hon Martin Aldridge, who is away from the house on
urgent parliamentary business. The Minister for Emergency Services is also away
on urgent parliamentary business.
I refer to the mandatory vaccination
requirements for fire and emergency services workers, including volunteers,
being no longer in force from Friday, 10 June 2022.
(1) How many
workers, including volunteers, were stood down, terminated or subject to
disciplinary proceedings or similar arising from the directions?
(2) How will the
Department of Fire and Emergency Services re-engage those identified in (1), in
particular, volunteers who may no longer have access to the DFES portal and
therefore DFES circulars about the policy change?
(3) Will
volunteers who were excluded, arising from the public health directions, be
immediately reinstated to their brigade, group or unit and their role in which
they previously served if they so desire?
(4) If no to (3),
why not?
Hon KYLE
McGINN replied:
I thank the member for some notice
of the question. The following answer has been provided by the Minister for
Emergency Services.
(1) As of 15 June
2022, no DFES employees have been stood down. DFES employees were advised they
were not to present for duty. Nineteen DFES employees are subject to
disciplinary processes. No DFES employees were dismissed due to non-adherence
to the directions. No DFES volunteers were stood down or are subject to
disciplinary proceedings.
(2) DFES
employees are currently being contacted to arrange their return. DFES
volunteers who were on leave of absence were not excluded from accessing any
system information they would ordinarily have access to through the DFES
volunteer hub, which includes DFES circulars and regular updates.
(3) Yes.
(4) Not applicable.