In Johnston v Carroll (APM, Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service) [2024] QSC 2, Dominic Villa SC, Philip Santucci and Winnie Liu successfully challenged the lawfulness of directions made by the Queensland Police Commissioner requiring the applicant police officers and police staff to undergo mandatory vaccination against Covid-19. Martin SJA found that the directions were unlawful under s 58 of the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) (HRA) as the Commissioner failed to give proper consideration to human rights before making the relevant decisions, in contravention of s 58(1)(b) of the Act.
The Court ordered that the Commissioner be restrained from taking any steps with respect to enforcement of the directions or any disciplinary proceedings against any of the applicants based upon the requirements of the directions.
While the Court held that human rights could be reasonably and justifiably limited in times of a pandemic (in accordance with s 13 of the HRA), the decision emphasises the importance for public entities to give proper consideration to human rights relevant to a decision prior to the making of that decision. The decision also reinforces the importance of the HRA to decision-making by public entities.
A link to the case can be found here.
