Dan's Journal of Skepticism

The Australian Vaccination Network is copping it again. Yesterday the HEALTH LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2013 was before the New South Wales Parliament. The Australian Vaccination Network, the nations most dangerous “charity” received plenty of criticism.

The Hon. CATHERINE CUSACK: I call on the Health Care Complaints Commission immediately to stop the Australian Vaccination Network spreading misleading information and I ask the media as a whole not to facilitate the dissemination of such dangerous messages to vulnerable parents who are already bombarded with confusing information and who somehow believe that the network’s role in the immunisation debate is evenly balanced. It is not.

Dr John Kaye: Hear! Hear!

The Hon. Adam Searle: Hear! Hear!

The Hon. CATHERINE CUSACK: It has no support from the scientific and medical communities in Australia. I thank Dr John Kaye and the Hon. Adam Searle for their support. I am horrified that 30 per cent of babies and children in my region are at risk of contracting preventable diseases. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Daily Telegraph on the outstanding campaign that it is conducting to counter this sort of misinformation and to promote a positive message to parents about getting their children immunised. I have no doubt that tens of thousands of babies will be immunised and protected as a result of that campaign. I join with other members in thanking and congratulating the Daily Telegraph on conducting the campaign.

Dr JOHN KAYE: I do not wish to vilify any particular parent but I do seek to raise serious alarm, as others have, about the behaviour of the Australian Vaccination Network and those who promote the non-science and nonsense of the risks of vaccination. It is all very well to be trendy and to adopt issues that are published on the web but we are serious. This is about the lives of children. Kids die from whooping cough. I do not know if members have seen a child under the age of three years suffering from whooping cough. It is terrible and something that no child should experience. We should be eradicating whooping cough by ensuring we have a vaccination rate of about 95 per cent. I believe that people such as Meryl Dorey from Australian Vaccination Network are behaving in an entirely immoral way. I give my complete support to— 

The Hon. Trevor Khan: You will be getting emails now too, John. 

Dr JOHN KAYE: I have had plenty of emails, believe me. My Facebook site became a battleground between rationality and irrationality. 

The Hon. Trevor Khan: Good on you. 

Dr JOHN KAYE: Yes. I urge people like Meryl Dorey to stop this campaign that is leading to the death of or permanent impairment of children. Meryl Dorey’s campaign is immoral and she ought to stop that happening. She should drop this campaign and understand the damage that she is inflicting on other children. The Hon. Paul Green likened this issue to smoking in public.

–NSW Parliment Transcript (For the full debate.)

There is also a video: