Qantas will ban travellers who don’t have the COVID vaccine — can other businesses follow suit?

Does a government have to pass a law to make something compulsory, or can businesses make it a must-have anyway?

The world is about to find out, after Qantas CEO Alan Joyce declared international travellers must have a COVID-19 vaccine to get on a flight.

It looks like the vaccine won’t be mandatory for Australians at home.

But whether people will have access to their favourite goods and services if they don’t get the vaccine is more complicated.

Will the vaccine be compulsory for Australians?

The short answer is no, but it’s clear the Government wants as many people as possible to have it.

In August, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he expected the vaccine “to be as mandatory as you can possibly make it”.

But just hours later, Mr Morrison…