After a month-long consultation period that saw the Australian casino company reach out to employees, unions, industry and business organisations, it has announced that all staff and customers at its New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria properties must be vaccinated.

This will come into immediate effect at Crown Sydney and Crown Melbourne, which are already complying with current Public Health Orders, while its Crown Perth property will have until 31 January 2022 to finalise and implement the policy, reflecting the virus’ varying levels of severity across the country.

“Perth continues to enjoy an almost Covid-free environment and government policy is still evolving, so we are not quite as advanced in our consultation. We need to finalise the methodology, but our aim will be to achieve alignment across all of our resorts,” commented Crown Resorts CEO Steve McCann.

“From the start of the pandemic, we have promised our employees that we will always put their health and wellbeing first. This policy is consistent with that — and consistent with our responsibility to care for not only our employees, but our guests, our partners and our investors’ interests.”

Crown first floated the idea of mandatory vaccines for its staff and punters in September, when McCann announced several incentives to encourage employees to go out and get jabbed.

He added: “We had overwhelming support for this from our stakeholders and thank them for working with us so constructively. The mood has shifted in Australia over the last few months, and people are recognising that we all have a part to play.

“Covid-19 has been devastating for so many in the community, and our business has an important role to play here.”