Vaccine abuse at Roebourne cafe

Roebourne Cafe experienced staff abuse when a man came into the store without his proof of vaccination wanting to dine in. He was informed that he needed his proof of vaccination so said he would sit outside which is still classed as dining in. When informed of this the man became angry and said that he had left his proof of vaccination in the car and was not prepared to get it.

Service providers have a zero-tolerance for abuse of staff members and the incident was reported to the police.

‘We have not put policies and procedures in place about identification and recording and reporting to the police and we will not tolerate this at all,’ said cafe owner Michael Wittaker.

The fine for an individual breaching COVID-19 rules is a maximum of $50 000. The fine for businesses is up to $250 000.

‘The onus is put back onto our staff to make sure [people show proof of vaccination] and we just need our clientele to be …. happy, have a good time. You're all welcome in there. Just bring along your vaccination proof.’

Wittaker also said that the staff member had not dealt with anything like this before and was not sure how to handle the situation but the cafe now has procedures in place for dealing with this kind of behavior.