SWAN Hill councillor Stuart King has moved to have the council write to state premiers and the Prime Minister about whether vaccine passports would limit the freedom of the public.
However his motion was opposed by other councillors, who either supported state health measures or did not feel it was the place of local government to become involved.
Cr King said a vaccination passport system would promote discrimination and segregation in Australian society and was concerned that people were being coerced into having a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m not here to debate the pros and cons of COVID-19 vaccines which are currently available,” Cr King said.
“I have bought forward this motion to request council take a stand for basic freedoms.”
Cr King said people who chose not to be vaccinated would have limited access to their workplaces but might also miss out on social events or be denied their right to gather in church.
“In August we moved a motion that stated in part, ‘Council supports and is actively prepared to support an
increase in vaccination rates within all communities’,” Cr King said.
“‘That said, council recognises that it is an individual’s choice to vaccinate or not vaccinate.’”
State and federal governments had given their approval for a vaccination passport system, Cr King said, and elected members should advocate for people who felt their voices weren’t being heard.
Cr King said small businesses would be left with enforcing compliance with vaccine passports, and as they were “already drowning in red tape”, questioned whether this was fair.
He questioned whether businesses could afford to lose even 5 or 10 per cent of their staff if workers were unvaccinated, especially in small towns.
The motion was seconded by deputy mayor Jade Benham, who said she agreed the issue should be discussed, and that she didn’t want businesses to have more red tape.
But Cr Benham said if the council wrote to politicians opposing vaccination passports they would look “foolish”.
“I believe it would contradict the work we did last month, as we did say we wanted to increase the vaccination rates,” Cr Benham said.
Cr Benham, Cr Anne Young and Cr Les McPhee said the motion had the potential to be divisive in the community.
“I believe it’s a business’s choice whether or not they have vaccinated staff, however I also believe that freedoms and laws are a spectrum,” Cr McPhee said.
“If we didn’t have laws, there would be anarchy.”
Cr McPhee said there were already laws around driving, alcohol consumption and occupational health and safety that were designed to safeguard public health.
“These were medical decisions as much as they were political decisions.”
Cr Chris Jeffery said he believed the issue was worth debating, but it was “bigger than the municipality”.
“Vaccinations don’t prevent COVID, however they prevent people from becoming gravely ill, and most people want to get vaccinated and go above that 80 to 90 per cent threshold,” Cr Jeffery said.
Cr King thanked Cr Benham for seconding the motion, however he disagreed that the motion would contradict the August motion to have an open letter opposing lockdowns.
Cr King also agreed with Cr McPhee that businesses should have a choice, but “governments won’t let them”.
The motion was lost one to four, with Cr Nicola McKay absent from the September meeting.
