Ambulance Victoria has changed its policy to allow paramedics to have “cultural beards” after a Sikh student made a racial and religious discrimination complaint.
Prabhjeet Gill, 19, who is in the first year of his paramedicine studies at Melbourne’s Monash University, filed the complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission after being refused a mask-fitting appointment ahead of his course’s mandatory on-the-job training.
He said he requested in advance to use the Singh Thattha method, which uses an elastic band over beards so a mask can be sealed and is allowed in other states, but was told he had to be clean shaven, ABC News reported.
Mr Gill was given an exemption after his story was reported on in the media, but he went ahead with the complaint in an effort to change the policy, and last week Ambulance Victoria announced a new fit-testing pathway for “staff who have facial hair for religious, cultural or medical reasons”.
“We’re building internal capacity to support this change by training our respiratory protection team in the Singh Thattha method, with external fit-testing available as we transition,” a spokesperson said.
Mr Gill said he took the issue to the AHRC because Sikh beards were “part of our identity” and he believed “everyone should be allowed, whether you’re Sikh or whether you’re Jewish, for whatever religious reason you might need to have a beard … it shouldn’t affect you becoming a paramedic”.
But he said the policy change did not feel like a victory because “it was just about getting our rights back”.
“Nobody should ever have to fight against a state government organisation to be able to wear their religious identity,” he said.
Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill called Mr Gill “incredible brave”, and said it was important the state had a “diverse ambulance workforce”.
The policy change comes less than a month after Sikhs complained about not being able to bring their religious kirpan daggers into a Punjabi singer’s concert in Sydney, saying they felt disrespected and discriminated against.
Sikhs in NSW have also been pushing for a religious exemption to motorcycle helmet laws, with advocates telling parliament in December that forcing them to remove or adjust their turbans to wear helmets violated their faith.
Header image: Prabhjeet Gill (ABC News).
