UNITING CHURCH CANCELS AVN SEMINAR AT THE 11TH HOUR

At about 12:45 yesterday afternoon, I was standing on line, waiting to board a plane that would take me to Perth.

I had packed, arranged rides for my children, caught up on my office work for the next few days and was ready to just sit back, relax and enjoy the flight (while going over my powerpoint slides for the 20th time!)

As I was waiting my turn to give my ticket to the hostess, my mobile phone rang. I almost didn't answer but seeing that it was a Western Australian number, I thought I'd better. Little did I know...

On the other end of the phone was a Mr Andy Corkill who is the Mission Development Officer for the Uniting Church of Perth. He was calling to inform me that the Church Council had received calls from the WA Dept of Health and from some of their own congregants including a senior academic from a university in Perth. All these people were urging the church to cancel our seminar which was taking place tonight.

Mr Corkill informed me that the Council had met the night before and decided that they would cancel the event and that there was really nothing he could do to change this because it was a decision made by the Council - not by him.

When I told him that we had over 100 people booked in to attend and that I was about to board a flight from QLD to Perth specifically for this event, he suggested that we find another venue. He was quite helpful and said they would be happy to post a sign at the Uniting Church to let people know the location of the new venue - hah!

I asked him where he thought I would be able to find a venue for over 100 people in just over 24 hours and he replied that he couldn't help with that but I couldn't have any Uniting Church venues.

So - off to the counter I go and ask them to pull my bags off the plane - down the $750 we paid to the Church for the venue and the almost $700 for the plane fares.

Don't be downhearted!

A person could really be forgiven for feeling more than a little bit downhearted by these events. After all, there are children all across Australia who have died or been seriously injured by the flu vaccine in recent weeks. There is a little girl in PMH right now who was in a coma for some time and now faces a difficult and uncertain future because of this shot. And yet, the Department of Health and certain academics have decided that Australian parents need to be treated like mushrooms and kept away from any information that might call into doubt the safety of shots.

Unfortunately for them however, this action is going to backfire and backfire badly. This backlash is already starting!

The media in WA is now asking the following questions:

1- Who at the department of health chose to put pressure on the Church to force them to cancel our seminar? Why would a small event, attended by only 100 people, be of concern to the government?

2- Who was the senior academic who used his status as a member of the Uniting Church congregation and a supposed expert on this issue to state that the AVN should not be allowed to speak at a Church venue?

3- By trying to suppress this information, is the government trying to pretend that these reactions never took place? Are they stepping on our right to freedom of communication - a right that has been upheld by the High Court of Australia?

In the meantime, we contacted everyone who was booked into the seminar tomorrow to let them know it's been cancelled. Several of these people have excellent contacts with larger and better venues in Perth and we are hoping to reschedule this talk for sometime within the next 4 weeks.

Of course, we will let you know as soon as we have rescheduled. If you are as incensed as I am about this discrimination and abuse of our freedom, please feel free to contact the Church on (08) 9321 9711 and let them know. You may also like to send an email to the Uniting Church to let them know your disappointment with their policy. Click here to access their contact page. As always, please send a copy of your letter to meryl@avn.org.au.