Cathy O’Leary, the health news reporter for the West Australian newspaper, has provided publicity for the protest rallies being held around Australia on Sunday 21 June 2015 (p3 West Australian 17 June 2015). However, the information she has provided about the Perth event is incorrect and it has not been provided by a spokesperson for the event. I will provide the correct details below including the concerns many parents have about the Abbott government’s proposed childcare package.
Cathy O’Leary has presented her information as an ‘anti-vaccination rally’. This national event is not about anti-vaccination and that is clearly presented in our promotional material. This event is to high-light the removal of informed consent to vaccination from the new childcare package. That is, parents right to choose what enters a child’s body if they wish to use childcare centres or receive family welfare benefits. The proposed changes require that all children must have the ‘full’ schedule of vaccines to claim these benefits, that is, 11 vaccines before an infant is one year of age. Even if a parent wishes to refuse one vaccine they will not receive childcare payments or family welfare benefits. A parent who cannot afford childcare cannot go to work. These concerns apply to all parents – whether you are pro-, selective or anti-vax and these facts need to be accurately presented to the community by journalists.
The rallies around Australia on Sunday have nothing to do with anti-vaccination. Anybody who cares about the right to choose what they inject into their bodies and their children’s bodies, should be protesting the proposed changes to the childcare package. When our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, was Health Minister nine years ago he stated “No-one is in charge of what goes into my mouth except me” and “No-one is in charge of what children put into their mouths except parents” (Four Corners, Fat Chance, 13 October 2014). Yet this new childcare policy will allow the government to say how many vaccines are injected into children’s bodies without informing parents of the ingredients of vaccines and the known risks listed on the package inserts.
The Perth event was always presented as a family picnic, not a rally, where parents could come and talk about their concerns about the government’s changes to vaccination policies and the changes to childcare access and social welfare payments. Our event is being held at Subiaco Market Square Park from 12 – 2pm. This was never a secret event as Cathy O’Leary has suggested and we are inviting her to come along and hear our concerns in the hope that they will be accurately presented in the West Australian.
The AMA has stated in the West Australian newspaper “If you want to take the benefits of a modern society, you have to think about what’s best for everyone“. The public is requesting that the AMA acts on this advice because vaccinations are used in genetically diverse populations. This means that everyone has a different reaction to the chemicals in the vaccines. I would like to encourage everyone who has concerns about mandatory vaccination being linked to all welfare payments, including adolescents and adults, to please take an interest in this event at Subiaco Market Square Park from 12 – 2pm this Sunday (21 June 2015).