Loopholes !

We are facing a tough budget as the government tries to reign in spending.  Perhaps now would be a very good time to close off some of the loopholes that hemorrhage public money to people with the know how to tap public funds.

The vaccination of children against a range of childhood diseases has been a long running battle between the medical profession and a small army of untrained " Shamans " who insist that they are a cause of Autism. Many parents are spooked by this claim and no amount of medical evidence from the foremost scientists is going to change the mind of these " forecasters of doom ".

There are people in this world that truly believe that Neil Armstrong never set foot on the moon and the whole moon landing was shot on a movie set.  Others believe that the 9/11 tragedy was some bizarre plot by the United States government.    This crazy - but harmless - conjecture hurts nobody, but a vaccination refusal on spurious grounds can let diseases that have been long conquered regain a foothold - and kill innocent kids.

This has developed into a " cat and mouse " game with the New South Wales government introducing a " No Jab- No Play " policy to bar un-vaccinated kids from childcare and early learning centres.   To accommodate those with a genuine religious reason for refusing vaccinations a loophole was introduced that required those with a "Conscientious Objection " to declare this in front of a doctor, who must also sign that form.

This has brought a dramatic increase in the numbers citing a Conscientious Objection as the reason they have an un-vaccinated child - and those children are now enrolled across the entire care and early learning spectrum's.   Australia wide, there were 30,336 such cases a year ago and this has now increased to 36,109 - with 9681 being in New South Wales.

This is where the unintended " loophole " starts to sap public funds.   Because we tend to lean over backwards to not interfere in the religious beliefs of others, those who use the Conscientious Objector strategy to avoid vaccinations and still access child facilities can claim the $ 2,100 benefit the government provides as a reward for those who do have their children vaccinated.

Surely a case of " unintended consequences " ?     We are handing over two thousand dollars of public money - intended as a reward for parents who follow the rules and spread the vaccination safety net widely - to the very people who are deliberately sabotaging this health provision by adopting a religious practice to dodge a safety law.

In a time of fiscal belt tightening, surely this is a loophole that should be high on the agenda for immediate action !