© Herald SunAn anti-vaccination lobby group has been slapped with an order to change its name.
The NSW Office of Fair Trading doorstopped the home of Australian Vaccination Network president Meryl Dorey yesterday with a letter of action, labelling the network's name misleading and a detriment to the community.
NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts fired a broadside at the AVN, saying the information it provided was a public safety issue of "life and death".
"This is not a victimless issue, it's about the ability to stop pain and suffering," he said.
Mr Roberts likened the AVN's message to sanctioning speeding.
"People do not have the freedom of choice when it comes to endangering others ... it's the equivalent of saying a bloke can speed down the road and endanger others," he said.
Mr Roberts said he was prepared for any appeals the AVN might make.
"This is an order, it is not a request," he said.
Mr Roberts has warned other states if the AVN tries to register elsewhere.
NSW Fair Trading Assistant Commissioner for Compliance and Enforcement Robert Vellar says the AVN's name had misled parents seeking information.
"People are being confused about the true nature of the information they are being provided on the AVN website, the name is misleading," he said.
Mr Vellar said the NSW Government was working on changing definitions in the Associations Act to include group names that were in conflict with the group's charter.
Complaints to the office from the Australian Medical Association prompted the move. It must change its name in two months or face deregistration.
AMA (NSW) president, Assoc Prof Brian Owler, said the AVN needed to take responsibility for information it gave to parents.
...that when you start at the top of the page - read this article the second next article is all about how we are living longer but we are sicker and in more pain. Irony - co-incidence or what???
Where has our freedom gone? People are quite capable of conducting their own research and making up their own mind if they want to vaccinate or not. It begs the question of why we are all sent to school - is it to learn about our intellectual capacity and to learn to think for ourself - or is it to learn how to do as we are told?????
Putting medically untested chemicals into our bodies seems a little like taking a poison and "seeing what happens" it is ludicrous. Having read widely there is undeniable proof that vaccines are causing autism. Why there are even courts in America and Italy that are financially compensating families for the vaccine causing autism.
Much Peace...to all the people who have permanent bodily damage from vaccines...