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The Queensland government has made six attempts to dismiss the case. All appear to have failed. It now heads to trial with no evidence filed and no experts willing to defend the mandates.

The Queensland government has argued in a court filing that an individual Christian’s belief grounded directly in the Bible does not qualify as protected religious belief under Australian law since it does not conform to a specific code of conduct required by a particular church.

The argument, advanced in submissions to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) dated 24 October 2025, has emerged from a landmark human rights case brought by Queensland legal professional Jayden Beale.

In an exclusive exchange with The Daily Declaration, Beale said the implications for every Christian in Australia are severe.

“If the government’s argument is ultimately accepted at law, no Christian in Queensland will ever be able to object to something based upon what the Bible says,” Beale said.

“It will not be sufficient at law for a Christian to simply claim that Christianity is their religion and that the Bible is their ‘rulebook’ — they will need to identify a church as their religion and follow only the codes or rules created by a church, even if the church is acting completely inconsistently with the Bible.”

The case, Beale v State of Queensland (ADL014-23), is proceeding before QCAT. A written judgment on the government’s latest attempt to have the proceedings dismissed is expected imminently, following a one-day hearing on 30 April 2026.

The Government’s Argument

In its submissions, Crown Law — acting for the State of Queensland through Queensland Health — argued that Beale’s objection to the COVID-19 injection mandates was not protected religious activity but “Mr Beale’s subjective interpretation parts of the Bible that he relies upon to support his personal choice to avoid vaccination.”

The government further argued that evidence from two Christian pastors who supported Beale’s position was “of no assistance” because it failed to show that his refusal of a COVID-19 injection was:

a particular standard or code of conduct the adherents of the ‘Independent Lutheran Churches in Queensland’ or the ‘Journey Church’ were required to follow or a ‘canon of conduct in order to give effect’ the beliefs of the ‘Independent Lutheran Churches in Queensland’ or the ‘Journey Church’, or, for that matter, any other mainstream Christian religions.

Beale told The Daily Declaration that the government’s use of “Christian religions” in the plural was deliberate and significant.

“The government has argued that Christianity is made up of multiple, separate religions, referring specifically to churches as religions,” he said.

“What you will see from the government’s submission is that they have sought to claim that a Christian’s religious objection can only be valid if it conforms with a ‘particular standard or code of conduct’ of a church — and that each church is a separate ‘Christian religion’.”

The government also characterised Beale’s Bible-based convictions as “personal grievances and opinions”, arguing his case was based on his refusal to “submit to laws or mandates which medically interfere with the physical body, primarily laws or mandates involving experimental pharmaceutical products”.

In his statement of evidence filed with the tribunal, Beale rejected that characterisation directly: “My decision to not get vaccinated was always due to my religious belief and adherence to Scripture,” he stated. “I have never received a vaccine due to my Christian belief.”

Beale’s submissions in reply, represented by King’s Counsel Pat Zappia and filed 5 December 2025, described the government’s reasoning as one that “would effectively obliterate the protection given to freedom of religious belief as a human right under the relevant legislation” since “anyone holding a religious belief must at some point have exercised a choice to adopt it”.

Background: The Mandate Case

Beale filed his original complaint with the Queensland Human Rights Commission in December 2022, after the state government imposed COVID-19 injection mandates on all Queensland residents aged 16 and over in 2021 and 2022.

His objection was rooted in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which he cited in his statement of evidence before the tribunal: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Beale’s conviction, grounded in that passage, was that he must glorify God with his body, rather than the government, and also not introduce into his body substances developed or tested using cells from aborted babies.

The Queensland government missed its evidence filing deadline of 24 October 2025 and has since filed no expert material in support of the mandates.

The state has made six separate attempts to have the case dismissed. Five previous attempts have failed and the latest appears to have met the same fate.

The government will almost certainly face trial with 13 expert reports from scientists and medical professionals on Beale’s side and none on its own.

In its submissions, the Queensland government dismissed Beale’s 13 witnesses as “purported experts” whose opinion evidence was inadmissible — despite filing no expert material of its own to contradict them. According to Beale, Pat Zappia KC in reply at the hearing on 30 April stated that some of the experts for Beale were the best in the world.

Zappia in his written submissions responded directly: “It rings hollow for the Respondent in a proceeding in which it has failed to advance a single expert report which controverts the Applicant’s expert evidence to label the Applicant’s experts… as ‘purported experts’ who are not qualified.”

Among those experts are Professor Robert Clancy — a Member of the Order of Australia and one of only three people in Australia’s history to develop the discipline of clinical immunology — and Professor Wendy Hoy, an Officer of the Order of Australia and author of more than 360 peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Allegations of Misleading QCAT

The Beale case has generated a separate and serious allegation.

Beale and his legal team contend that Queensland Health’s lawyers may have misled the tribunal in their written legal defence about the reason why the mandates were imposed on the public.

Beale says the government has refused to respond to revelations of public comments made at the time by the chief health officer (CHO) which clearly show he did not give the mandates to stop COVID-19 transmission.

Additionally, the government has refused to file any evidence showing that the injections prevented transmission, despite being ordered to do so by the tribunal last year.

One of Beale’s expert reports, filed with the tribunal, puts the allegation in these words: “Only one of two possibilities can be reached from this material. Either the CHO has lied to his lawyers about the reasons for why he gave the Directions, or the State of Queensland’s lawyers have lied to the Tribunal, for the purpose of misleading it.”

The former chief health officer resigned during the proceedings before answering questions about why the mandates were issued.

The Daily Declaration asked Queensland Health whether it intends to file evidence at trial and what the public health basis was for imposing injection mandates on the general public.

A Queensland Health spokesperson declined to address any of those questions.

“It would be inappropriate to comment on matters before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal,” the spokesperson said, adding that “mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements were a vital part of the state’s plan to protect Queenslanders.”

What Is at Stake

Beale told The Daily Declaration that if the government’s argument is accepted at trial, the consequences would extend far beyond his own case.

“Christians would likely be able to be controlled through the government placing pressure on churches to not adopt certain religious objections — such as by threatening their tax-exempt status — whereas individual Christians are far harder to control because they have less to lose,” he said.

“The practice of Christianity will therefore become subject to rules set by the government, which in this case is that Christianity must be fragmented into separate religions, such as churches, and the Bible will become just some sort of novelty and will have no real application at law.”

His own church pastor has warned that such an outcome “would devolve the churches into legalism and move Christianity away from the Bible,” Beale said.

As previously reported by The Daily Declaration, the Queensland Supreme Court ruled in February 2024 that COVID-19 injection mandates imposed on police officers and paramedics were unlawful. The Australian Human Rights Commission’s ‘Collateral Damage’ report has since framed that ruling within a broader pattern of human rights abuses during the COVID-19 period.

Beale’s case is a broader and legally distinct claim that applies to the general public.

A Pending Decision

The QCAT Member presiding over the April 30 hearing indicated a written judgment would be delivered relatively quickly.

Beale expects the judgment within days. It will confirm whether the dismissal application has been rejected and whether the case proceeds to a full trial, likely later in 2026 or early 2027.

Beale said the case has already confirmed something important for him: “I have felt that God has been carrying me to trial through this case”.

“From the very beginning and all throughout, I have asked God to guide me through all the blockades and hurdles that have arisen,” he said, “to the point where I have now overcome six different applications to dismiss by government across a number of years”.

“One person can achieve a lot in this world with the right mindset, good diligence and most importantly, faith in God.”

Pat Zappia KC remains on the case.

Donations to support the proceedings and Beale’s legal costs can be made at Beale’s GiveSendGo fundraiser, which has raised more than A$91,000 toward a A$200,000 goal.

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Image courtesy of Unsplash.