Hundreds of people opposed to the state plan march in Brisbane on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people opposed to the state plan march in Brisbane on Wednesday.Credit:Matt Dennien

But some members of the federal Coalition government based in Queensland have railed against the plan as “segregation”,while minor parties and other groups seek to harness such momentum.

National KAP leader and north Queensland-based state MP Robbie Katter said he appreciated the Palaszczuk government was trying to boost lagging vaccination rates ahead of an influx of cases but did not think it should be “encroaching” on the rights of those who had chosen not to get a jab.

“There are a lot more solutions to this than just increasing the jab rate,as in rapid testing and incorporating those negative tests,and applying a risk matrix against those situations where people are,” the member for Traeger said.

The plan would give all Queensland residents the ability to show either proof of vaccination or a negative PCR or rapid test when required. It would also extend to sectors bound by mandates,including the health workforce – a requirement called for by the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.

Such an approach to so-called “vaccine passports” for broader society has been used in Europe and the United Kingdom,where a digital certificate is given to the vaccinated,but also to those who have recently tested negative or have recovered from the disease in the past six months.

Mr Katter said the party,whose three state MPs have all been vaccinated,held a “pro-choice” position on the jab and believed that while the risk of transmission needed to be mitigated,the mandates were “fundamentally undemocratic”.

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While Prime Minister Scott Morrison has thrown his support behind the use of domestic vaccine passports to give businesses the freedom to bar the unvaccinated from entering,he has ruled out any nationwide mandates beyond the aged care and quarantine systems.

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In Victoria,Premier Daniel Andrews has said rules barring those over the age of 12 from accessing parts of society,set to take effect later this month,could be in place until 2023 in a movequestioned by some health experts.

Other researchers have warned againstsimplifying and weaponising the "anti-vaxxer" term amid a shift in rhetoric among online communities from extremely rare vaccine risks to government control — an issue which hasfuelled recent protests in the southern state.

Queensland’s restrictions,which are yet to be fully outlined but appear to be less restrictive,will begin from December 17 or once the state passes an 80 per cent double-dose vaccination rate among the 16-plus population.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said while the rules will be reviewed once a 90 per cent threshold is passed – likely by the end of January – the restrictions willlikely remain in place. Health Minister Yvette D’Ath’s office has confirmed no current plans are being considered to allow people to also show negative test results to access certain venues.

Hundreds of people protesting against the rulesmarched on Parliament and state government headquarters at 1 William Street on Wednesday,with some in the crowd veering into outright vaccine opposition or conspiracy-laden comments.

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More than 95,000 people have signed a trio of petitions to the Queensland Parliament calling for a rejection of the rules based on vaccination status,mandates and passport-type arrangements. More than 82.8 per cent of the population have now had at least one dose,with 71.1 per cent fully vaccinated.

On Sunday,Queensland LNP leader David Crisafulli dismissed suggestions that the vaccine rules were too extreme,saying the government needed to make the move to boost low vaccination rates,and that his Opposition had asked questions about their impact on small businesses and police resources.

State Labor government MPs have sought to link the state Opposition to comments by Queensland-based federal Coalition government members,including outgoing Dawson MP George Christensen and Senator Gerard Rennick,who have criticised the vaccine rules and shared unverified reports of adverse effects or unproven COVID-19 treatments.

Speaking to a rally in Mackay on Saturday alongside One Nation’s state member for Mirani,Stephen Andrew,Mr Christensen said the time for “civil disobedience” would come with the vaccine restrictions in mid-December,and that authorities could “put me in jail for all I care”.

Queensland LNP Senator Matt Canavan has also been vocal against the state plan,while the party’s Moreton Bay-based Petrie MP Luke Howarth has described it as “segregation”.

Mr Andrew – the only Queensland MP to have not disclosed his vaccination status,although he has described himself as “not an anti-vaxxer” – told the Mackay crowd “this is the hill that we have to die on”.

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