'And on top of that, you've got to deal with the fact that people have to be able to buy food and get access to things like pharmacies and those sort of things. 'We say that the correct balance is if you have a mandate, it must provide an exception of people who are conscientious objectors,' he told AAP. QCCL President Michael Pope said unvaccinated people need to be able to do essential shopping like buying food and medicine. 'If a person decides not to be vaccinated, then those are the things that they will take into consideration.' While the state will allow private businesses to do as they please, the Queensland Council of Civil Liberties said there must be a balance between people's rights and the public interest. '(When Queensland opens up) you will need to be protected and businesses all over Queensland will be making that decision. 'Any business is able to make that decision, and a lot of them are actually thinking about that very seriously. 'The ability to mandate that staff and patrons be vaccinated is available to every business,' Ms Farmer told reporters on Thursday.

The mandate does not extend to essential services like grocery stores, but Small Business Minister Di Farmer says all private businesses are allowed to opt in to the mandate. Anyone entering a cafe, restaurant, bar, club, pub, theatre, cinema, museum, library or sport stadium will need to be fully vaccinated under a statewide mandate from December 17.

Queensland supermarkets, pharmacies and other essential businesses could have the ability to mandate vaccination and exclude unvaccinated people, according to the state's small business minister.

Metal supermarket