What should be done about the government intentionally misleading its citizens?

[Guest guest]

For those who have been following the story of Minister Plibersek being misquoted (to be kind) in a new report yesterday (please read my original letter to the Minister which includes the quote in question), I have just spoken with a representative of the Minister and am glad to report that the Conscientious Objector Clause is still available to Australian parents.I just spoke with a woman by the name of Carolyn - she would not give me her last name but said she is a policy advisor in Minister Plibersek's office.She informed me that the quote in yesterday's paper is not correct and that the conscientious objector is still available. The only change to policy is that doctors will not longer be getting incentive payments.I informed her that there is a government paper put out on this policy by their department called Strengthening immunisation for Children (http://immunise.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/Content/factsheet-strengthening-immunisation) and that in the entire two pages of this document, there is no mention of conscientious objection and that parents need to be made aware that they do not have to vaccinate and they can still receive their entitlements even if they don't.In fact, the document clearly says that:"From 1 July 2012, parents will need to have had their children fully vaccinated during the financial years that each child turns one, two and five years of age to receive the $726 Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement (for each child each year). Immunisation is already a condition for Australian Government child care payments."Meaning that those who don't vaccination will not get child care payments or the Family Tax Benefit Part A supplement - a lie as it is stated.She replied by saying that it was government policy to strongly encourage vaccination so of course they would not put information about conscientious objection into the government paperwork!I said that this could be considered to be deceptive on the part of the government and that I was verballing her!I asked her if she would be contacting the newspaper that quoted Minister Plibersek yesterday as saying that parents who did not vaccinate would lose their welfare payments come July and she said she would speak with the Press Secretary about that but she did not seem in the least bit concerned about the fact that Minister Plibersek was misquoted which makes me feel strongly that there was no misquote involved and the intention is to not allow parents to know about their rights when it comes to vaccination. In fact, I feel strongly that the idea is to mislead parents and make them believe that vaccination is compulsory and that they will lose their government entitlements if they don't vaccinate - all of which is wrong and in contravention to federal legislation.What do you all think should be done about this? Please share your thoughts with me and feel free to forward this information on to everyone who would be interested including the media.MerylOriginal letter sent yesterday:Dear Minister Plibersek,It is with grave concern that I noted this morning the following quote from yourself in the Business Spectator Newspaper:"Health Minister Plibersek said the incentive was no longer needed because from July parents will have to immunise their children in order to receive welfare payments."http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/GPs-and-Labor-at-odds-over-immunisation-U5BXZ?OpenDocument & src=hp7I represent the Australian Vaccination Network, Australia's national vaccine-safety and informed health-choice lobby group. On behalf of our membership which consists of thousands of Australian families, health practitioners and medical professionals in every State and Territory of Australia, we lobbied hard to help in drafting the Conscientious Objector clause which allows those who choose not to vaccinate or to vaccinate selectively to still receive all government payments regardless of their child's vaccination status.It is my will, on behalf of our organisation and the thousands of Australian families whose informed choice is not to vaccinate their children, that this issue be cleared up in writing today.Are there plans to scrap the Conscientious Objector clause, meaning that Australians who have made a legal decision not to vaccinate will now be financially penalised for that choice?If not, and if the Conscientious Objector clause still applies, you have been misquoted and this needs to be immediately addressed in all Australian media so that the families of Australia will be alerted to the fact that regardless of whether their children are vaccinated according to the Australian schedule, are partially vaccinated or not vaccinated at all, they will not be penalised for making the choice they felt is in their family's best interest.In addition, the use of the term "welfare payments" in this interview might lead one to believe that ALL family payments will be at risk for families who don't vaccinate. If this is the case, then there must have been recent amendments to Federal legislation. If this is true, please advise me of the Act under which these payments have been taken away from Australian families. If it is not true, again, the families of Australian need to be alerted to this error in the quickest and most complete way possible.This is an open letter which will be sent to all AVN members, professional members and other interested parties in Australia.I await your prompt reply with great interest.Kind regards,Meryl Dorey

Meryl Dorey,SpokespersonThe Australian Vaccination Network, Inc.Investigate before you vaccinateEditor,Living Wisdom MagazineFamily, Health, EnvironmentPO Box 177BANGALOW NSW 2479AUSTRALIAhttp://www.avn.org.auhttp://www.living-wisdom.comPhone: 02 6687 1699 FAX 02 6687 2032skype: ivmmagFreedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose. - C. MillsThe authority of any governing institution must stop at its citizen's skin. - Gloria SteinemWe rely on the help and support of our members and subscribers to continue offering our services freely and without prejudice.Please consider helping us by joining the AVN as a member. Go to http://www.avn.org.au to become a member or donate to support our work.We also sell books, videos and DVDs on vaccination and other health issues. Go to http://shop.avn.org.au/ for more details.