A vaccine mandate challenge brought against the West Australian Police Commissioner has been quashed by the Supreme Court in a decision handed down this afternoon.
WA Police officer Ben Falconer and staff member Les Finlay, both unvaccinated, sought to challenge whether the Police Commissioner had the authority to infringe on employees’ bodily integrity by ordering them to be vaccinated against Covid as a condition of employment.
However, the Supreme Court today found that the directive made by then Commissioner Chris Dawson was “valid and lawful”, dismissing Falconer’s appeal of a 2022 court decision which determined that the WA Police vaccine mandate was justified due to the “extraordinary emergency” of the Covid pandemic.
The decision will have repercussions for more than a dozen WA Police officers and staff who were stood down when the WA Police Covid vaccination directive came into force in December 2021. Falconer and Finlay were not ordered to pay costs.
Falconer, a Senior Constable who describes himself as “pro-choice”, said the decision to dismiss his appeal is “disappointing” and that it will serve as a “cautionary tale” of what happens to Australians who “pursue justice and bodily autonomy”.
“The purpose of the litigation was to discover what rights we have over our bodies in the workplace, and the judiciary and the Government have given their perspective on that today,” Falconer told Dystopian Down Under after the decision was handed down.
“For me, I’m going to be torn to pieces by my employer, and I’ll be sacrificing my career. I welcome that, it’s a necessary good. I want people to carefully observe what happens now, and what happens to my colleagues.”
Falconer said that he now expects “a rapid dismissal” from the Police Force, as the Supreme Court decision brings an end to an injunction he had previously secured to prevent WA Police from firing him until legal proceedings were resolved.
Falconer said that he and his legal team will regroup in the coming days to decide their next move.
Senior Constable Lance French, who was stood down from the Police Force in December 2021, said he is “not surprised by the decision”, but that “it doesn’t feel right”.
“What rights do you have over your own bodily autonomy? You can be told to undergo a vaccination, which is a medical treatment – how far will that extend?” asked French outside the Court.
“Say there’s a shortage of hospital workers, it’s an ‘emergency’. What if hospitals want to make nurses have IUDs [intrauterine contraception devices] inserted to stop them going on maternity leave? Where does it end?”
French said that he has informed WA Police numerous times over the past several years that he wants to return to work. He anticipates that he will now be dismissed.
Falconer said that concerned Australians should consider the impact that can be made at upcoming elections and “vote carefully”.
“Sadly our legislation is riddled with such dormant threats to our individual liberties,” he said. “This is not a time to be complacent.”
Ben Falconer spoke with Freedom Media in the Supreme Court Gardens after the decision was handed down.
This article was originally published on Dystopian Down Under, Rebekah Barnettt’s Substack newsletter. You can subscribe here.
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Justified due to the extraordinary emergency of the COVID pandemic
is code language for Plain illegal, but we’ll do it nevertheless because WE have the power. There’s no need for complicated handwaiving: Australia is not a democracy and the people living there don’t have any human rights, as decreed by the UN or whoever controls it.
Spot on.
This won’t be popular but, this is why Britain needs to be careful about leaving the ECHR. They are certainly not perfect but do you want the likes of Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid having a say in the drafting of a UK version?
This is another court making extrajudical decisions which contradict existing law based on making it up on the go. Hence, it’s a strong argument in favour of getting rid of the ECHR ASAP. When institution which have obviously been corrupted can’t be abolished, they must be neutralized. But it could get worse in future! is just the plain old appeal to ignorance again.
So Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid or Klaus Schwab and Ursula von der Leyen? ——–Take your pick of what tyranny you want.
Theoretically, at least, the first two can be voted out. They can also be confronted directly.
Outside of communism, it’s not possible to “vote” rich people out of their fortune and the influence it grants them and you can’t “vote out” communal rubbish collectors, either.
Just to repeat this every once in a while: Ursula von der Leyen became head of the European commission for the sole reason that she had proved to be useless way beyond being harmless in German domestic politics but couldn’t be entirely ignored for party-political reasons. Her present occupation is mostly nominal, ie, she can talk whatever she wants (and gets more than handsomely paid for that) but doesn’t really have anything to say. The job of the EC is to turn general directives by the council of Europe into legally watertright draft legislation which is then voted on by the European parliament and the council of ministers of the EU member states. And that’s all. The EC has exactly zero actual powers, it can just make suggestions for EU legislation which is then implemented or not (depending on the votes of the instutions invested with decision-making powers) and enforced or not (depending on how the governments of the EU member states which do have actual power want to handle that).
Human Rights were exposed to be dormant in 2020, or they are just what TPTB decide that count. We still have natural rights last times I checked and those laws precede all before it. Over the last century, how many acts of treason has Parliament committed, going beyond their remit. They used the Public Health Act 1984 to impose Lockdowns on the populations, yet nothing in the ‘act’ that endorsed putting healthy populations under house arrest.
“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” —Lord Acton. The never let a good crisis go to waste governments know that all they do is declare an “emergency” and they then have care blanche to pursue any and all desired policies. Just as in the climate issue where CO2 is the bureaucrats dream gas as it allows them to put policies in place they previously could only dream of. ——–“I am from the government and I am here to help”
Once prisoners always prisoners, I guess.
By the court ruling that employers and the state actually owns our bodies and can compel us to have any experimental treatment it decides to inflict on people, then it goes without saying that the State is liable, as are the employers for any injuries, deaths, distress etc caused by the forced infliction of pharmaceuticals. I hope that the Australian people take to the courst in droves and destroys this rancid state.
That’s a nice theory. But because of the extraordinary emergency of the COVID pandemic, that was obviously justified violence, much as the police shooting someone who’s on a killing spree. To reuse something I wrote a couple of times while we were still being covided: Jabbed to death is a positive vaccination outcome as it reduces the number of potential virus spreaders.
Yet in Australia any company that mandated the jabs and they sacked the employee for non compliance can be sued……So how is it any different in the Australian Police?
I trust you didn’t mean to write that mandating a basically untested vaccine with non-existent efficacy would be ok for “diseases like Ebola” …
My thoughts also.
There is no justification for ANY mandatory medical procedure. That is a fundamental breach of human rights.
NONE.
You reap what you sow….Tall poppy!
Thanks to Rebekah Barnett & DS for this article, and the powerful video of West Australia Police Officer Ben Falconer. This man is an Australian National Treasure, like Pauline Hanson and the Australian Truckers Freedom Convoy, all standing boldly against Globalist Tyranny.
May Aussie Patriots get behind the One Nation Party at long last, and remember that our physical bodies, and the immortal souls which occupy them during this short earthly life, are a gift from Almighty God, not to be tampered with against our own free will.
Very sad for justice in Australia – but an indication of where we’re all headed. NB The Commonwealth countries seem the worst – watch UK Column (ukcolumn.org) on this subject in their Green King series!
Even on the logic of the Australian Supreme Court, the just decision would be reinstatement as a police officer now that the Pandemic (if there ever was one) has ended.