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Australia to end welfare payments for families rejecting vaccination
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Starting in 2016, Australian parents who choose not to vaccinate their children will no longer be eligible for certain welfare benefits, according to a press release.
“The government is extremely concerned at the risk this poses to other young children and the broader community,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in the release. “The new policy will tighten up the rules and reinforce the importance of immunization and protecting public health, especially for children.”
Conscientious objection will be removed as an exemption category for Child Care Benefits, the Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A starting Jan. 1. Exemptions based on medical or religious grounds will continue, but affiliation with an approved religious group will be required for the latter.
In addition, immunization requirements for the payment of FTB Part A supplement will be checked for children of all ages, as opposed to the current practice of inspection in children aged 1, 2 and 5 years.
Approximately 97% of FTB families meet the current immunization requirements, according to the statement, with countrywide vaccination rates growing since the establishment of the Childhood Immunization Register in 1996. However, more than 39,000 children aged younger than 7 years are not vaccinated due to conscientious objection, an increase of more than 24,000 children over 10 years.
“The choice made by families not to immunize their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments,” Abbott wrote in the release.
“Parents who vaccinate their children should have confidence that they can take their children to child care without the fear that their children will be at risk of contracting a serious or potentially life-threatening illness because of the conscientious objections of others.”
As of April 13, a petition opposing the act as unconstitutional has received nearly 10,000 signatures.