COVID-19

A judge has dismissed a proceeding against the New South Wales government over a mandate requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the applicant’s constitutional case was “legally misconceived and must be rejected.”

An aged care nurse who showed up to work while infected with COVID-19 could face hefty fines and jail time after being slapped with two charges for allegedly violating workplace safety laws.

Virgin Australia will seek to throw out a case brought by former employees over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which a lawyer for Qantas and Jetstar, which are also named in the suit, said “breaks every pleading rule”.

Melbourne-based aged care facility St Basil’s has been hit with nine charges by the state’s workplace safety watchdog over a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in 45 resident deaths.

Qantas’ termination of a long-serving engineer who refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because he “feared for his life” was a “tragedy” but not unlawful, the Fair Work Commission has found.

The head of NSW’s peak legal body has called on the state’s Attorney General to retain a number of COVID-19 measures to improve access to justice.

A judge has ruled that a senior Queensland police official waived legal professional privilege during cross examination, allowing the plaintiffs in a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination challenge to see legal advice about the jab direction by the Crown Solicitor.

A judge has criticised the Andrews government for withholding information about the alleged transmission of COVID-19 to a security guard working in hotel quarantine in a class action claiming lapses in the program caused Victorian businesses to suffer losses. 

Victoria’s Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority may be hit with a class action over alleged systemic failures in its ambulance call handling operations that may have led to at least 15 deaths.

Availability of phone voting for the federal election has been extended for people isolating with COVID-19, following threatened legal action by high profile teal independent Monique Ryan.