Lawyers for a WA police officer have told a Perth court that a direction from the Police Commissioner requiring officers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was "irrational".
Senior Constable Ben Falconer and a radio operator are challenging the validity of the direction that they could not go to work if they were not vaccinated.
He is also taking action against the Chief Health Officer's direction that banned unvaccinated officers from attending police premises.
The Supreme Court has heard that even though the directions had now been withdrawn, Senior Constable Falconer was subject to disciplinary proceedings and could not go back to work.
Shane Prince SC told the court that Commissioner Chris Dawson gave an order for "medical treatment, pure and simple".
He said 26 officers and 12 civilian staff would be punished for not complying.
They wanted to exercise their "right to bodily integrity", Mr Prince told the court, and they "posed no threat to anyone" but were being "pushed to conversion".
The barrister referred to a "visceral fear of bodily illness".
He said "high politics and media messaging [had] created a maelstrom Petri dish, conducive to irrational decision making".
Evidence would be put forward regarding the effectiveness of the Astra Zeneca vaccine to help assess the "rationality" of the public health order, the court was told.
Rational to exclude officer, Commissioner's lawyer says
Kenneth Pettit SC, representing the Commissioner, said extraordinary measures were required under the state of emergency the coronavirus pandemic had triggered.
He told the court that in Senior Constable Falconer's case, there was no point in "putting him on leave for several years", and it was rational to exclude him from the police service.
Officers needed to be vaccinated so they could go back to work, Mr Pettit said, and others would be encouraged to be vaccinated.
Mr Pettit told the court one of the issues was about the power to control and manage the police force, and the choices Commissioner Dawson had.
Commissioner Dawson becomes WA Governor on Friday.
The trial before Justice Jeremy Allanson is set down for three days.
