AVN wins court case

[Guest guest]

This does not mean that the AVN's charitable status will

automatically be restored, but the refusal of the AVN to comply with the

HCCC's demand (which demand has now been ruled unlawful) was the grounds

given by the OLGR for the revokation of the charitable status.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8425144/anti-vaccine-group-wins-court-case

Anti-vaccine group wins court

case14:34 AEDT Fri Feb 24 2012

Isabel

An anti-vaccine group has won its case against the health care watchdog

after the group was ordered to warn that its website " should not be

read as medical advice " .

The NSW Supreme Court on Friday ruled the Health Care Complaints

Commission (HCCC) had no jurisdiction to issue a public warning about the

Australian Vaccination Network (AVN).

The AVN took legal action against the commission after it ordered the

group to place a prominent warning on its website stating it " should

not be read as medical advice " last July.

The HCCC issued the public warning after it investigated the website

following complaints from a NSW couple whose four-week-old daughter died

from whooping cough.

When the AVN did not comply, the NSW Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing

(OLGR) revoked the group's charitable status in October on the grounds it

had failed to publish the disclaimer.

The AVN took its case to the NSW Supreme Court, arguing the commission

had no power to investigate the complaints as they did not affect the

clinical management or care of an individual client.

It said the public warning had directly affected its rights and led to

its fundraising capacity being revoked by the OLGR.

The commission submitted it could reasonably be inferred that people

accessed the AVN's website to get information about vaccinations to help

them decide whether or not to have their children vaccinated.

Handing down her judgment on Friday, Justice on found the

health service the AVN supplied had not been shown to affect the clinical

management or care of an individual client.

She ruled the HCCC's investigation into the complaints and its subsequent

public warning were not within the commission's jurisdiction.

However, she found the gaming minister was not legally obliged to take

the public warning into account when deciding whether to revoke the

group's charitable status.

She ordered the commission to pay the AVN's costs unless a different

order was made within seven days.

From: " Bronwyn Hancock "

<vaccinfo@...>

--

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

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