The Church of Ubuntu describes itself as a “non-dualistic all embracing multi-faith philosophy and way of life”.
“We focus,” the church promises, “on total holistic health and well-being, using natural plant-based healing methods.” Naturally, the background of its website is a picture of a gleaming sky through a leafy forest canopy.
The church and “wellness centre” attached is at the centre of another employment dispute around vaccination, and it’s a doozy.
There have been several cases testing whether an employee can be sacked for refusing to be vaccinated. Now a Byron Bay woman is arguing in the Fair Work Commission that she was sacked because she did get the vaccine.
According to the commission’s summary of the case, Ubuntu’s beliefs “include that receiving a COVID-19 ‘inoculation’ is contrary to God’s teachings and the appellant indicated they will not hire anyone as a contractor or volunteer who has received an injection of any of the current or future planned injections purported to protect against the COVID-19 virus”.
We are not at the stage where an employer’s right to do this is being tested — at this point the case has been delayed by Ubuntu arguing that the woman is a contractor, not an employee, and therefore without recourse to unfair dismissal — a pretty conventional workplace response to an unfair dismissal claim.
Fair Work deputy president Ingrid Asbury found in November that the woman was an employee, and on Monday the commission denied the church’s ability to appeal.
It’s not quite a blanket rule that employers — apart from certain industries — can require their employees to be vaccinated. Individual workers have won unfair dismissal cases against employers that sacked them for failing to get vaccinated based on unfair processes. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.
If a million people share a belief, it is a religion.
If a thousand people share a belief, it is a cult.
If an individual has a belief that does not align with societal norms they are mad.
Here’s your problem: ‘ I’m a Liberal because I believe in the ethos of the party. Free markets, competition, freedom of speech, personal accountability and small governments that don’t insert themselves into every area of your life. ‘
Poorly regulated ‘free markets’ are destroying the environment and are driving unacceptable social, income and wealth inequity.
And the pandemic demonstrated that we need activist interventionist government to reverse the chaos caused be neoliberalism embraced uncritically and corruptly by the coalition.
What you are arguing here is that a Liberal-led government must be administratively competent and deploy policy that is an anathema to the principles you say cause you to be a Liberal member.
If there’s no requirement to be vaccinated, there’s no reason for an employer to know your vaccination history. Unlike proving vaccination, it is virtually impossible to show that you are not vaccinated.
Why are groups like this allowed to call themselves as a religion? there has to be a minimum standard set. The medical industry has a code of ethics that stops the snake oil salesman from selling the elixir of life, so let’s have something similar for the afterlife.