NSW Vaccination Legislation - Too Many Questions - Not Enough Answers

I have just had a chance to read through the NSW Legislation which, should there be no objections from the floor, will pass into law today. There will still be 28 days for an objection to be raised and, should it be decided that this issue is worth fighting, a case can be taken to the High Court of Australia to oppose and revoke this legalised discrimination.

On first reading of this bill, it is easy to see how little thought has gone into it. Calling it a knee-jerk reaction would be putting it mildly. This is legislation driven by a sector of the media with close ties to vaccine manufacturers and run on the back of a hate-filled vilification campaign which Australia has never seen the likes of before. This campaign has gone beyond all reasonable boundaries expected in a civilised society. Comparisons can be drawn between the current situation in Australia and historical social conflicts such as the McCarthy Era in the US and Hitler's vilification of the Jews during the 1930s and 1940s. At least with these issues, there was plenty of public debate going on. Today, there is censorship and suppression of any discussion which is not in line with government and medical opinion on the subject. Should this blatant discrimination continue, history and the world will not judge Australia well.

Here is a copy of the amendment for you to read. There are many questions which I will be attempting to put to the policy advisors in the Minister for Health's office today. You can read them below:

1- There is talk of both a conscientious and medical exemption which will be available to parents and a form which must be signed by doctors before these exemptions are granted. Is the form the same as the Federal Conscientious and Medical Exemption form or is this a different one which will be issued by NSW? If it is, will parent who already hold a valid Conscientious or Medical exemption be forced to attend yet another medical appointment to get their second form signed?

2- The media is reporting that doctors will be required to sign these forms for parents yet I do not see this mentioned in the Bill. The experience in the 16 years since passage of the Federal requirement for a Conscientious or Medical Exemption form in order to obtain certain government payments has been that parents are subject to abuse and harassment by doctors who then, after taking payment for the office visit, refuse to sign the forms. Some parents have had to visit over 20 practitioners before finding one who will sign the form at great cost to both the private and public purse. The Australian Medical Association has even publicly encouraged doctors not to sign these forms. So the parents of NSW would like to know, if they go through the time, trouble and expense of seeing a doctor to get their forms signed, will the doctor have a legal obligation to then sign?

3- Parents will be 'counselled' by doctors on the benefits and risks of vaccination as approved by government policy. Do parents have to prove that they are genuine conscientious objectors? How can one possibly prove to a third party a matter which resides in one's conscience?

4- Since this policy has supposedly been brought in to protect the fully vaccinated from the unvaccinated, will there be steps taken to identify and exclude the 5-35% of children who are fully vaccinated but who have not developed 'protective' levels of antibodies? If not, why not?

5- Do the teachers and staff members of preschools, childcare centres and daycare facilities also have to show that they are fully vaccinated against all diseases? What about school bus drivers and parents who volunteer to help in these facilities? If they do not need to show this proof, how can the government be claiming that this policy is protective rather than putative?

6- What safeguards will be put in place to protect the privacy of personal medical information held by preschools, childcare centres and daycare facilities? How can parents feel secure about giving up this information with the current rabid vilification of those who are not vaccinated. We have heard of preschools that have posted pictures of unvaccinated children on bulletin boards - will we soon see the unvaccinated being forced to sew yellow syringes onto all of their clothing?

7- This Bill does not mention natural immunity. If a child has already contracted and recovered from one of the illnesses for which we currently vaccinate, thereby gaining lifelong immunity to the disease (something which no vaccine can provide), will they still be required to be vaccinated? Upon what basis?

8- The Australian Vaccination Network has an adverse reactions register that has documented over 1,200 serious adverse reactions following vaccination including permanent brain damage and death. Not one of these reactions was ever reported by a doctor until the AVN becdame involved and assisted the parent to force the practitioners to acknowledge the connection between the reaction and the vaccination. What are the odds of a parent being able to get a doctor to sign a medical exemption form when there is such widespread and institutionalised denialism of the risks of vaccination?

Again, feel free to email this list of questions to the members of NSW Parliament by pasting the email addresses from the attached list into the To: or BCC: field of your message.