The Northern Territory has recently followed New South Wales and Victoria in their footsteps to impose a vaccine mandate for essentially all workers. While the guidelines stating who exactly the mandate applies to can be interpreted as vague and ambiguous, it potentially reads as every worker must have at least one dose prior to November 13th or face a $5000 fine. This has left many Territorians feeling as if their right to choose has been stripped from them, as not everyone is in a position to not be working.
Throughout this pandemic, we have been led to believe that the people will always have a choice to be vaccinated or not. Our Prime Minister even stated; “The vaccination service is free, and it is not mandatory. That’s an important principle. We are not going to seek to impose a mandatory vaccination program by the Government by stealth. That is not what we’re going to do. It is a non-mandatory program.”
Despite our Prime Ministers words, when it comes to working to earn a living and supporting one’s family, this is no longer the case. It has swiftly transitioned from a simple choice with little to no repercussions, to a full-blown ultimatum!
An ultimatum is a ‘demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance.’ By definition, many would consider the recent mandates to fit this description.
Ideally, the relationship dynamic between a government and its people should be a positive and trusting one. However, when one side of this dynamic serves the other with a threat accompanied by severe consequences for non-compliance, one is no longer able to make an informed decision with consent, which is legally required.
Scenarios like this make people feel pressured and trapped, which is likely to spiral into fear and resentment, potentially escalating into a battle for power. Based off similar events that have occurred in our history, the situation can turn extremely ugly incredibly quickly. For this reason, our Government needs to remember it is supposed to reflect and serve the opinions of all its people, not just one fraction. Our leaders need to be very mindful and conscious as to how they continue to handle the pandemic heading into the future or our planet’s instability will only exponentialise.
The government takes all views into account but it then has to act in the interest of the majority. Some individuals will always miss out. An old saying “ you can please ALL of the people SOME of the time and SOME of the people ALL the time BUT you cant please ALL of the people ALL of the time