[FALSE] Will the unvaccinated in Australia be fined up to $13,000 or face six months imprisonment for offences such as sneezing or coughing in public?

Screenshot of the tweet.

The Claim and Our Verdict

• The claim: A tweet posted Dec. 13, 2021, claims that the unvaccinated in Australia will be fined up to $13,000 or will face six months imprisonment for offences such as sneezing or coughing in public.
• Fact-checking:
  • The video in the post was extracted from a news report by 7NEWS, an Australian news media service. The 7NEWS report claims, “Unvaccinated Queenslanders warned of fines or jail for targeting hospitality staff.”
  • A direction issued May 15, 2020, by Queensland Health stipulates that a person must not intentionally spit at, cough or sneeze on, or threaten to do so on any public officials and frontline workers. Penalties range from maximum fines of AU$13,785 ($10,050) to six months imprisonment.
  • Queensland’s Ministry of Health responded to our inquiry: “The direction applies to anyone, regardless of their vaccination status.”
  • Therefore, people will be penalized when fulfilling two conditions: (1) sneezing or coughing on public officials and frontline workers and (2) anyone, regardless of their vaccination status, intentionally committing this offence. The claim thus misrepresented the direction.
  • In addition to Queensland, similar measures have been implemented in New South Wales and Western Australia.
• Our ruling: Therefore, we rate the claim as FALSE.

News Brief

A tweet posted Dec. 13, 2021, claims that the unvaccinated in Australia will be fined up to $13,000 or face six months imprisonment for offences such as sneezing or coughing in public. A video superimposed with the logo of the news media service 7NEWS Australia was shared in the post.

As of the issuance of this report, the tweet had been retweeted 118 times and had received 80 likes.

Fact-checking

Keyword searches found a video published Dec. 7, 2021, on YouTube, by 7NEWS. A screenshot comparison shows that the video presented in the claim was extracted from the 7NEWS video.

Screenshot comparison of the 7NEWS video (left) and the video presented in the claim (right).

The report claims, “Thousands of interstate travelers are expected to cross the border from next Monday. Businesses are looking forward to bigger crowds and welcoming tougher penalties for unvaccinated customers who target hospitality staff.” Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said in the report, “Anyone that is spitting, coughing or sneezing, or threatening to do so, can be issued with an infringement notice.” Queensland Hotels Association’s Bernie Hogan said, “Finally, there are consequences, and we have a little bit more protection for our staff.”

In fact, the regulation “Protecting Public Officials and Workers (Spitting, Coughing and Sneezing) Direction (No. 3)” took effect May 15, 2020, in Queensland. The direction states, “A person must not intentionally spit at, cough or sneeze on, or threaten to spit at or cough or sneeze on, any of the following persons (a public official, or other frontline workers) in a way that would reasonably be likely to cause apprehension or fear of being exposed to COVID-19.” The maximum penalty for failure to comply with the above direction is 100 penalty units (the value of 100 penalty units is AU$13,785, according to another regulation amended on July 1, 2021) or six months imprisonment. Therefore, only those who intentionally commit the abovementioned offences toward public officials and frontline workers will be penalized. The “fine up to $13,000” purported in the claim is also inconsistent with the regulation.

Another article published Aug. 31, 2021, clarifies that anyone who violates the direction may be given an on-the-spot fine of A$1,378 ($1,005). They may also face criminal charges or six months imprisonment.

Queensland’s Ministry of Health responded to our email inquiry: “The direction applies to anyone, regardless of their vaccination status. The direction took effect on May 15, 2020, but was expanded to cover more workers on Dec. 17, 2021. It remains in place. The maximum fine is AU$13,785.”

The direction, therefore, is not restrained to unvaccinated persons but is applicable to any person who intentionally spits at, coughs or sneezes on, or threatens to do so on a public official or frontline worker. The claim that the unvaccinated in Australia will be fined up to $13,000 or face six months imprisonment for offences such as sneezing or coughing in public is false.

In addition to Queensland, similar measures have been implemented in New South Wales and Western Australia. None of the measures apply only to unvaccinated people.