Nera Thiab needed to complete hundreds of clinical hours to obtain her Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University.But a court heard her placement at St George Hospital in 2021 was axed after she admitted doubts over the Covid vaccine, said “Dr Kerry Chant was wrong” and was accused by the university of “spreading misinformation”.Ms Thiab took a case to the NSW Supreme Court alleging the university breached section 35 of the Western Sydney University Act 1997 which forbids discriminating against students on the ground of religious or political views or beliefsAt the time of her initial placement, Ms Thiab was unvaccinated and mandates were not in place. She later was vaccinated and was allowed to resume placements, this time at Macquarie Fields Vaccination Hub in Sydney’s south west – but during her induction she again spoke of her vaccine fears.According to court documents, Leanne Hunt, a senior lecturer, told her in an email, “Anti-vaccination messaging and spreading misinformation is not in line with what is expected…You are in a respected position in the community and your opinion is not what is required…”The documents stated Ms Thiab responded by accusing her of “abuse of power” and “basically instructing me, indirectly, not to ask questions”.An investigation by the university’s Associate Professor Leeanne Heaton found Ms Thiab guilty of misconduct and imposed sanctions, including a 1,500 “reflection” on how she had been unprofessional.Ms Thiab wants the university to allocate her enough placements to finish her degree.Justice Guy Parker found the cancellation of her placements was unlawful because her vaccine hesitancy was a political view.Ms Thiab had been accused of spreading misinformation and therefore guilty of breaching the nurse’s code of conduct even though she had not been speaking with patients.“But to question the scientific evidence for the safety of a vaccine, so long as it is done rationally, could hardly, if ever, be regarded as contravening [the code],” Justice Parker said.Justice Parker said it was “easy to see how Ms Hunt might have got the idea that Ms Thiab was against Covid-19 vaccination” because of a “hectoring list” of questions on the vaccine.“But even if it was reasonable to think that Ms Thiab was an ‘anti-vaxxer’, the complexities of identifying actual conduct by her which contravened the Code of Conduct seem to have been completely lost on Ms Hunt,” Justice Parker said.He said the investigation had been a “travesty”.“What it tends to show, I think, is that it was not Ms Thiab’s actual conduct which concerned them. Rather, they thought that she held anti-vaxxer beliefs and that those beliefs were undesirable in nursing practice. Once they had reached these conclusions they apparently considered it unnecessary to investigate precisely what she had said and done.”The judge continued: “Clearly neither Ms Hunt nor Professor Heaton believed that Ms Thiab was spreading “misinformation” purely because of a wish to cause random mischief. I infer that they took action because they thought she was the sort of person who would place unsound interpretations on the scientific evidence in order to advance an “anti-vaxxer” agenda.The University argued Ms Thiab was making statements in scientific terms, rather than political ones – a view Justice Parker rejected.“In saying, or supposedly saying, that Dr Chant had got it wrong, Ms Thiab was really saying that the Public Health Orders were wrong. It was a direct criticism of government policy.”The case returns to court next week.
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