Chief Minister Michael Gunner has announced that nearly all Territorians will need to get vaccinated by November 12, or possibly lose their jobs and be fined $5000 as of November 13, under the strictest vaccine mandate rules in the country.

The new health direction will require employers to request proof of vaccination and also requires employers to keep a register of all staff member’s vaccinations.

Mr Gunner said there would be “circumstances where people won’t need to get vaccinated” but that “most people know we are a very small jurisdiction, most people in the Northern Territory are one degree away from a vulnerable person.”

A full list of occupations – both private and public – was not released by the government until now:

Workers who are likely to come into contact with a vulnerable person:

• Workers who work with children, such as teachers, child care workers, tutors, gym coaches and swimming instructors
• Workers who work with disabled persons, elderly persons or other persons vulnerable to infection with COVID-19, such as legal service providers, disability care workers and personal carers
• Workers who directly face customers or patients in health care and ancillary health care services
• Workers who work in a community consisting of mostly Aboriginal people (including family outstations and town camps)
• Workers who provide community services
• Workers who directly face customers in retail services, financial or hospitality industries and other service industries.
• People who work in the construction industry who could come into contact with vulnerable people.

Workers who are at risk of infection with COVID-19 because they, during the course of work, are likely to come into contact with a person or thing that poses a risk of infection:

• Health care workers in hospitals and emergency departments
• Police and emergency service workers
• Workers in quarantine facilities or other quarantine places
• Border control workers;
• Workers at other places to which symptomatic people may go, such as medical clinics, respiratory clinics and pharmacies.

Workplaces that pose a high risk of infection with COVID-19, including the following:

• Correction and detention facilities
• Shelters for persons experiencing homelessness or other forms of adversity
• Mining sites
• Food processing and distribution facilities
• Cold storage facilities and abattoirs
• Cruise vessels as defined in direction 5 of the COVID-19 Directions (No. 5) 2021.

Workers who perform work that is necessary for the operation or maintenance of essential infrastructure or essential logistics in the Territory, including:

• Electricity generation facilities, electricity networks and electrical installations

• Liquid natural gas and other gas facilities
• Water supply and distribution infrastructure
• Sewerage treatment facilities
• Telecommunications systems
• Roads
• COVID-19 emergency operations centre.