Australia
has always given me the impression of an advanced streak of authoritarianism;
only yesterday I was describing how they prosecute people for abstaining in
elections, see:
http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/not-voting-reply-to-thomas-g-clark.html.
When I visited the country myself a few years ago I noticed there were generally
far more police around on the streets than in
Britain.
A few days ago the prime minister announced that any parent who refused to give
their child the full schedule of vaccinations would have their benefits cut. At
the moment up to ten percent of Australian parents decline vaccines because of
their fears about its health risks; I share their concerns, see background
articles at the bottom. I gave my own daughter the MMR jab in the mid 90's, but
if I'd known then what I know now I would definitely not have done so. Abbott
has spoken at a press conference where he states that vaccination in
Australia
is still not compulsory. This is very devious of him and an insult to our
intelligence; he knows as well as most other people that for millions of
families on low or even moderate income, threats to withdraw benefits as
punishment for non-compliance is in effect an act of duress, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-32273992.
I think I can guess where this all started. There's a very noisy character
doing the rounds called Dr Paul Offit, see:
http://paul-offit.com/,
who has no qualms about wielding the law as a weapon to make people vaccinate
themselves and their children. This divides him from some of his fellow medical
Skeptics; others, like Dr Ben Goldacre, think it would be counterproductive to
coerce people to vaccinate against their will and simply recommends scientific
education. Offit does not agree and is unequivocally in favour of outright
brute force. He's an American and in the
United
States the legal position on forced
vaccination varies depending on which of the states you live in; Offit has
petitioned state legislatures to pass acts of obligation on vaccines and also
would like to see the
US
federal government wade in and enforce vaccination nationwide. As I said Offit
is American, but he also seems to be very keen to poke his nose into the
affairs of other countries, including the
United
Kingdom, see:
http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/benefit-cuts-for-mmr-dodgers.html.
I would not be surprised if this new move in
Australia
was inspired by Offit's lobbying. The rise of dependency on the state for a
living has made such actions far easier. No laws of literal enforcement need to
be passed, just these "no jab no pay" policies. I wonder why it is
that if vaccines "are safe!" then why is it necessary to bludgeon
people into taking them this way? It's a very contemptuous and condescending
way to treat people. Let us have an open and honest debate on the subject and
then we can make up our own minds. We are thinking human beings, are we not?...
But of course, they won't do that. They can't because they know that these
concerns are real and justified. If the truth ever came out a multi-billion
dollar industry would crash and a covert biological weapons delivery protocol
would be exposed. This is why they crucified Dr Andrew Wakefield, or
"Andrew Wakefield" as they insist on calling him. They had to make an
example of him to other healthcare professionals who may be considering
apostasy.
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