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This week on Q+A, the vexed issue of mandatory vaccination.
Australians are turning out in record numbers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. If current rates continue, 70% of Australia’s adult population should be fully vaccinated by late October. So how do we navigate the next stage of the pandemic and is mandatory vaccination the way forward for a country divided by lockdowns and border closures?
Businesses are eyeing long-awaited roadmaps out of lockdown and some employers are being abused after stating they’ll only accept fully vaccinated patrons. Should specific industries have the right to expect that workers and customers are fully vaccinated or will this create a two-tiered society? Are vaccine passports the answer and how will they work? And as a new report highlights serious delays in rolling out the vaccine to people with disabilities, are vulnerable groups being left behind?
Amid the confusion, there are calls for the Federal Government to help employers impose vaccine mandates. However Prime Minister Scott Morrison says this isn’t on the table. As business groups demand ‘confidence and clarity’, is Australia headed towards a patchwork quilt of vaccine policies?
In other news, the Prime Minister has returned from a week of high-level international diplomacy to find growing discontent within Government ranks on the issue of a net-zero emissions target by 2050. The Business Council wants the Federal Government to embrace the target, however National Party MPs are divided. What does this mean for Australia’s involvement in the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow?
Joining David Speers on the panel:
Jennifer Westacott, CEO, Business Council of Australia
Sally McManus, Secretary, ACTU
Simon Longstaff, Executive Director, The Ethics Centre
Dinesh Palipana, Emergency doctor and disability advocate
Bruce Keebaugh, Founder, The Big Group
Please submit a question via our website by 9am Thursday for the chance to ask the panel.
Scroll down to watch Thursday's toughest question from Jessica Quist, who asked about the potential impact of the Melbourne protests on Victoria’s healthcare system. 👇
Watch Q+A Thursday at 8.30pm on ABC TV, streamed live 8.30pm AEST on ABC iview or on our website. |
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Get to know the panellists |
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| In August, CEO of the Business Council of Australia Jennifer Westacott backed the government's no-fault indemnity scheme, saying workplace vaccination program would help keep the community safe. | | MORE |
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| Simon Longstaff says employers have an obligation to find non-vaccinated employees ways to work without presenting risk, but in jobs where it's not possible, mandatory vaccination "becomes a reasonable issue”. | | MORE |
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| Secretary of the ACTU Sally McManus told the ABC in August that "it should be public health experts, not individual employers, not politicians, deciding whether or not people have to have the vaccine for work." | | MORE |
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Catch Up on Last Week's Show |
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| Jessica Quist asked - if Melbourne's anti-vaccination protests turn out to be super-spreader events, how will the healthcare system and wider community cope? | | WATCH |
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| Why is our universe expanding? Brian Schmidt, Kirsten Banks, and Michael Biercuk consider our questioner's suggestion that it's desperately attempting to evade the irrational behaviours of mankind. | | WATCH |
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| Q+A takes a trip to the future to ask what comes next. Some of Australia's finest scientific minds discuss COVID, healthcare and the Melbourne protests, mandatory vaccination plus AI, autonomous weapons, and the future of war. | | WATCH |
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