Lions of Liberty | Morning Roar: New Law in Australia Would Link Benefits to Vaccinations for ChildrenMorning Roar: New Law in Australia Would Link Benefits to Vaccinations for Children

We’ll kick-off this Monday morning with some controversial news from the Land Down Under. The federal government in Australia has announced a new law that will penalize Australian parents who refuse to vaccinate their children by reducing childcare and welfare benefits that families receive by thousands of dollars.

The plan, which is called ‘no jab, no pay’, was announced by the federal government on Sunday and has bipartisan support. The title of this bill made this writer chuckle, but this law is no laughing matter.

Regardless of how you feel about vaccinations it’s easy to see why the coercive method being used by Australia is problematic. Not only does the law punish children for decisions that their parents make, it also exempts the wealthy who do not receive government benefits.

The Australian government estimates that 39,000 children under seven have not received immunization because their parents opted for the ‘conscientious objection’ vaccination exemption. The ‘no jab, no pay’ policy will remove it as an exemption in January 2016.

Sky News reports

Under the plan, recommended by the Productivity Commission in a recent inquiry into child care, parents who decide against immunisations could be up to $15,000 worse off per child.

They would lose a childcare benefit of up to $205 a week, the childcare rebate of up to $7500 a year or the Family Tax Benefit A annual supplement of up to $726.

Children can still be exempted on medical or religious grounds, but Mr Morrison warns the latter exemption is ‘very narrow’.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor believed in the science of vaccinations and linking them to welfare payments.

‘(I don’t accept) people just claiming some sort of loose, undefined conscientious objection not to do the right thing by their children,’ he told reporters in Melbourne.

But there are some who strongly oppose measures that mandate immunisation.

An online petition against compulsory vaccinations in Australia that states ‘all parents deserve to make an uncoerced choice’ has received more than 3000 signatures in five days.

I am by no measure a member of the anti-vaxxer movement. I’ve received all of my vaccinations and when I do have children they will be vaccinated as well. With that being said, I find this law to be absolutely horrifying. Not only is this law illogical, it’s also immoral.

The law blatantly targets the poorest in society and gives the rich a pass. I don’t see how any rational person could see this as anything else than an attack on the poor. The law is immoral because it uses coercion to influence behavior. Lawmakers and the people who support this travesty believe that individuals do not own their bodies. To endorse this law is to endorse outright tyranny.

I don’t think that people who choose not to vaccinate their children are evil or have sinister intentions. They likely believe they are looking out for the best interests of their children. The decisions they make could be misguided and they could be misinformed about vaccines, but using force is not going to serve to progress society forward on the issue. It will only cause resentment and will further amplify the division.

Most anti-vaxxers are probably looking for transparency, or something that they can trust. Instead of using force to initiate change, why don’t pharmaceutical companies allow for transparency and openness to quell fears? Hiding behind the shield of a coercive government does not exactly scream “we have nothing to hide.”

Our own Marc Clair discussed the issue of vaccines with two recent guests on the Lions of Liberty Podcast, Dr. Mary Ruwart and Yvette Guinevere aka the “Science Babe.” Both of these women label themselves as libertarians and have background in science, yet take starkly different positions on the issue. Check out both discussions below.

Download this episode (right click and save)