A senior police officer who was set to lose his job has welcomed the High Court ruling on the mandates as "unlawful".
Detective Senior Sergeant Ryan Yardley was set to lose his job on March 1 as a result of the police and New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) vaccine mandates. But on Friday the High Court ruled the mandate to be unlawful.
Yardley told 1News the result is fantastic.
"I think it justifies exactly what we've been saying all along, these mandates were well out of proportions with what they've been trying to achieve".
He said there were a few tears when receiving the news.
"This affects hundreds of officers, police officers and defence force workers as well, so it's a huge proportion of people."
"If I chose not to be vaccinated there's so many sort of back office roles which I could have little or no contact with the public, so a blanket mandate just didn't sit well with me at all."
He said the next step will be getting back to the job he loves.
The New Zealand Police Association (NZPA) said it "acknowledges today’s High Court ruling that the vaccine mandate for sworn police officers was unlawful and an unreasonable limit on the rights of officers affected".
NZPA president Chris Cahill said the association "calls for all officers affected by this decision to be reinstated and returned to work as soon as practicable".
The association also said it believes the ruling has implications for the policy relating to vaccinations for non-sworn police employees.
"It makes sense for the parallel policy applying to non-sworn staff should now be dropped and those staff affected be permitted to return to their duties," Cahill said.
"While understanding the environment that led to mandates for police, circumstances, including the high vaccinations rates of all police staff, the current response framework for Omicron, and now the court ruling, mean it is appropriate all affected staff go back to work where they will be welcomed given the unprecedented demands on police resources."
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