Australian Parents Who Don’t Vaccinate Their Children To Lose Benefits – PM Abbott

Australian parents who are anti-vaccination or continue to refuse having their children vaccinated against deadly diseases now stand to lose welfare benefits, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Sunday. This meant non-complying parents could lose up to $15,000 worth of annual child care subsidies and family tax benefits.

The government said the new policy will still extend a few exceptions, but only if the parents can prove they are for religious and medical purposes only. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said they expect only a very small number of families will be exempted. Parents seeking religious related exception would need to present a document or certificate from their church or similar organisation.

A report by News Corp Australia revealed there are currently 14,000 families who claim conscientious objector status to the subject of vaccination. They “would be impacted by the changes and no longer receive benefits,” the report said. On religion-affiliate objection, there only exists one spiritual group registered as anti-vaccination, but government refused to identify it.

The new policy is expected to be enforced Jan 1, 2016. "It's essentially a 'no jab, no pay' policy from this government," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney. "It's a very important public health announcement and … important measure to keep our children and our families as safe as possible."

Mr Abbott said the decision of parents not to immunise their children wasn’t based on public policy or medical research, that it was only a prerogative they made. Hence, taxpayers should not be burdened to pay for their childcare payments for their decisions when something bad comes up, Mr Abbott said. The primary reason lodged by vaccine objectors for their continued refusal is their unwarranted fear that having their kids vaccinated will cause developmental problems, including autism.

Opposition as well as advocacy groups welcomed the announcement. Rates of immunisation in Australia are already starting to fall behind, Jo Briskey from advocacy group Parenthood told ABC News. "This will hopefully increase the rates of immunisation. We hope to see less parents choosing not to vaccinate their kids."

Mr Abbott said the number of Australian unvaccinated children aged seven years old and below had reached over 39,000 simply “because their parents are vaccine objectors.” He said it was a jump of more than 24,000 children over 10 years.

Should the new policy still fail to ramp up the needed impact, Brian Owler, Australian Medical Association President, said they would urge government to advocate stricter national rules, such as ordering mandatory vaccinations as requirement to attend school in the future. “I think if the measures are not working it would certainly be reasonable to look at tightening the arrangements further,” he said.

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