Whilst we wait for a decision from the judge in relation to the legal case challenging Centrelink’s decision to reject a doctor’s certified medical exemption (for the purposes of Child Care Subsidy), the previous legal bill still has nearly $8,000 overdue and therefore we need to raise this money urgently for the plaintiff.
This legal challenge hinges on the interpretation of section 6 (3) (a) of the Family Assistance Act, in particular the meaning of ‘medically contraindicated’ and ‘specifications set out in the Australian Immunisation Handbook’. The department have taken a very narrow interpretation of this wording, limiting medical exemptions to very few criteria, and it is this interpretation that is currently being challenged.
We sometimes get asked why anyone should need a medical exemption in the first place, when vaccination should just be voluntary. We agree wholeheartedly with this, however, regardless of whether a vaccine mandate exists, we need to fight to preserve the doctor/patient relationship and prevent the Australian Government from undermining a doctor’s medical certification. There is no way that bureaucrats in their ivory towers can predict who is at most risk of a severe vaccine reaction, but a medical practitioner who has spent time evaluating a patient’s medical history is best placed to evaluate whether someone is at higher risk of an adverse reaction.
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