Former St George Illawarra Dragons player Justin Poore has had his case for a review of his sacking from the police force dismissed in the Industrial Relations Commission.
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The dismissal in March this year related to his failure to receive two COVID vaccinations, as directed by the Police Commissioner at the time Michael Fuller.
In the commission's ruling, it stated Mr Poore had sent a letter to the court explaining why he had not complied with these directions.
"In short, the letter explained that the applicant regarded the mRNA vaccines as being 'experimental untested technology with no long term safety data' and that two of his family members had suffered adverse reactions after being injected with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines," the ruling stated
It also claimed the police commissioner had "exercised no duty of care to NSW police under work health safety guidelines [and] no risk assessment were provided, no safety data of any kind let alone any actual scientific studies" and the mandate was "unlawful".
Still, according to the ruling, Mr Poore was waiting to use the Novovax vaccine "as I understand that vaccine is a traditional protein based vaccine and does not contain the remnants of human tissue".
Mr Poore's case was dismissed, not due to any issues over his vaccination status but rather because of ongoing delays with the case, which he filed on March 25.
Since that time, Commissioner Janet McDonald found "the applicant has failed to comply with directions made by the commission".
On April 12, he was told he needed to serve evidence and submissions by May 24 - which did not occur.
Mr Poore missed one hearing date because of a "very sick" relative and requested another be put back due to severe flooding at his home caused by heavy rains.
He again asked for a hearing date to be moved due to a family trip to Queensland for a wedding.
The commissioner found that the bulk of Mr Poore's evidence to support his claims was not filed until September and, in some instances, not received by other parties until October.
At a September hearing, Mr Poore said in regards to the police dismissal that he had "done everything right and they were very quick to dismiss me and I just feel like I've been wronged and I feel like it needs to be heard".
However, the commissioner agreed with a motion put by the NSW Police solicitor that the case be dismissed due to ongoing delays.
"I am satisfied on the evidence that the applicant has failed to prosecute the proceedings with due despatch," she said.
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
