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A former rugby league star turned police officer has revealed the difficulties he faced after being sacked from the police force for refusing to take a Covid vaccine.
Justin Poore, 39, a father of five, was fired from the New South Wales Police in 2021 after refusing an order from then-commissioner Mick Fuller for all officers to receive the vaccine.
Fuller dismissed Poore and 54 other officers under the same section of the Police Act used to fire corrupt police officers and accused double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
The former police officer said he is being “treated worse than a criminal” and that he was unable to find another job to support his family due to the severity of the section used to fire him.
While Mr Poore was fortunate to work as a sole trader in his former profession as a plumber, he and the other former officers still want their old jobs back.
Former New South Wales police officer Justin Poore (pictured) has revealed the difficulties he and 54 other former police officers have faced since they were sacked for refusing to take the Covid vaccine.
Despite playing eight years in the NRL and representing New South Wales at the 2009 State of Origin, Poore said being a police officer was his true “dream job”.
However, when it came time to receive the vaccine, he questioned his superiors about the effect it could have on his health.
“No one could answer my questions, no one could tell me what was in it, and they couldn’t tell me any long-term data they had about it,” he told A Current Affair.
“I didn’t want to take the risk.”
Mr Poore and the other officers were immediately dismissed under section 181D of the Police Act. which allows the commissioner to dismiss any police officer in whom he has “lost confidence.”
He said it was used to fire “corrupt police officers, people who forge subpoenas, people who steal money, people who steal drugs, people who do the wrong thing and break the law in an irreversible way.”
Those laid off under 181D have a shadow hanging over them as they look for future job prospects, a fight that many of the police officers laid off by the vaccine are still fighting.
‘You are untouchable, no one is going to touch you. I wouldn’t employ that person,” Mr Poore said.
Poore added that his “mental health has been horrible” in the years since his dismissal, adding that there have been “days when I couldn’t get out of bed.”
He said the police response to permanently exclude them from the force was “vindictive” as unvaccinated recruits are now welcomed.
Other unvaccinated former police officers who resigned before Fuller’s tenure are also free to rejoin the force.
Moore said he was being treated “worse than a criminal” as any possible work with other police forces or in security was almost impossible due to his dismissal over the coup.
Despite playing eight years in the NRL and representing New South Wales at the 2009 State of Origin, Poore said being a police officer was his true “dream job”.
A statement from New South Wales Police said the 55 officers were dismissed “for failing to comply with a lawful order.”
‘That is, those officers were dismissed for failing to comply with the Commissioner’s 2021 directive that all members of the New South Wales Police Force be vaccinated against COVID-19.
“The commissioner expected those officers to comply with legal security instructions.”
The statement revealed that each dismissed officer had the “right to apply for a review of their dismissal order” by the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).
The IRC “consistently” upheld the commissioner’s decision to dismiss the officers, which was also supported by current police commissioner Karen Webb.
“Any former officer removed from the New South Wales Police Force under section 181D on the basis that he or she failed to comply with a lawful order will not be deemed eligible for reappointment,” the statement read.