A Sydney think-tank wants mandatory vaccines for the state’s public sector.

The Committee for Sydney has called on the New South Wales government to mandate COVID-19 jabs across its public service. 

“As the state’s largest employer, NSW should lead from the front and mandate vaccines across its 400,000 workers,” the think tank said in a statement this week.

“If that proves too difficult, at least it should mandate vaccines for public servants who interact with the public, such as those working across the transport network, Service NSW centres and schools.”

The Committee says its call is part of a broader mission to create a ‘vaccine passport regime’.

It says the regime could get underway with three key actions; 

Nominate a start date for each industry

Require the NSW Government workforce to be vaccinated

Put in place public health orders that support other employers to require vaccines

“While digital vaccination records are already on offer in Australia, it’s not yet clear how they will be used in practise,” the think-tank says. 

“If the Service NSW app can also serve as the vaccine passport, checking in at a restaurant would be easy: just scan the QR code and get the ‘green tick’.

“We support a national model but believe it has to be properly integrated with successful state-based services to ensure as little friction as possible for citizens. For this to happen, the Commonwealth Government needs to open up its API to Service NSW and other state-based systems.”