The mayor of a regional community in New South Wales says she refuses to turn away unvaccinated residents from accessing council-run facilities.
Once the state reaches its 70 per cent vaccination target, the NSW government has promised greater freedoms for people who have received both doses of the vaccine or those who have been declared medically exempt.
Shellharbour City Council mayor Marianne Saliba said the proposal, that would require residents' vaccination status' to be checked, was inequitable.
"Can you imagine as a council if we started saying to people, 'You can't come to our library because you're not vaccinated, or you can't attend this event, or you can't use these facilities,'" Councillor Saliba said.
"Everyone is a ratepayer whether they're vaccinated or not … and they deserve to be treated as equals.
Supply issues create disadvantage
Councillor Saliba said the council had not been provided advice from the NSW government on enforcing the new vaccine rule once restrictions were eased and criticised the state and federal governments for "dilly-dallying" with the vaccination rollout.
"There are people who are not taking vaccines because either their health does not allow it or because the vaccine that suits their medical needs is not available," she said.
"I would say those people have got the same rights as everyone else to access facilities in our community.
Community won't be at risk
There have been more than 70 new cases of COVID in the Shellharbour Local Government Area in the last week.
Counsellor Saliba, who has received the jab, says she is not concerned that allowing unvaccinated ratepayers to access council facilities would put the community at greater risk.
"When the state gets to its 70 per cent vaccination target, those people who aren't vaccinated would take the risk of going to be part of the community and those people who are vaccinated have protected themselves already."
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the roadmap had been developed in line with advice from health authorities.
