COVID-19

Cases challenging the NSW government’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for the state’s police officers, teachers and healthcare workers are exceptional enough to warrant production by the government of documents presented to state cabinet before the public health order, a court has heard.

Personal lender ClearLoans has lost its bid to strike out claims in ASIC’s first case related to the COVID-19 pandemic after a judge found the regulator’s action, which accuses the lender of breaching the hardship provisions of the credit laws, was “sufficiently clear”.

An appellate panel of the Fair Work Commission has upheld an aged care worker’s termination for refusing a flu vaccine, but a full-throttled dissent by one commissioner warns Australians against “a system of medical apartheid and segregation”.

A judge has set aside a subpoena that allegedly sought to “embarrass the New South Wales government”, in lawsuits contesting compulsory COVID-19 vaccination orders made by state health minister Brad Hazzard.

Nine Network, Seven Network and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have won a temporary injunction barring the Civil Aviation Safety Authority from declaring the area above the Melbourne CBD to be a restricted area in response to anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protests that have disrupted the city.

While a first test case in NSW rejected insurers’ interpretation of infectious disease exclusions in COVID-19 business interruption policies, potentially putting the industry on the hook for billions of dollars in claims, QBE says the law is on its side in Victoria.

BHP Billiton has resolved a case by an employee who claimed the company breached the Fair Work Act by sacking her for alleged social media harassment of a co-worker who failed to self isolate after an interstate trip at the start of the first COVID-19 wave.

The migration to the digital courtroom is taking its toll on the nation’s barristers, who face increased challenges and levels of fatigue from the mental load of conducting hearings remotely.

The Commonwealth does not have to hand over health advice given to the National Cabinet concerning Australia’s COVID-19 response and vaccine administration to the applicants in three lawsuits contesting compulsory vaccination orders by the NSW Health Minister.

Qantas has lost its second attempt to delay a hearing on further relief pending an appeal in its outsourcing spat with the Transport Workers Union, with a judge finding a stay would prejudice the union more than the airline.