Dan's Journal of Skepticism

The Australian Vaccination Network is still weaseling its way into the public health system despite being the subject of a public health warning and numerous governement investigations. This time they have managed to be referenced in an information sheet for Expectant Mothers. The this rabid anti-vaccination organisation could then use their fear mongering tactics to frighten new mother out of vaccinating their children. 

Lucy Fisher, who is pregnant with her second child, told the Gold Coast Bulletin, was given a leaflet by midwives that listed the Australian Vaccination-Sceptics Network (AVN) as the only source of information on vaccines.

AVN has repeatedly fallen foul of NSW authorities, including Fair Trading, for its anti-vaccination stance and was forced to change its name to better reflect its views, as well as losing its charitable status.

Lucy Fisher, who is pregnant with her second child, told the Gold Coast Bulletin, was given a leaflet by midwives that listed the Australian Vaccination-Sceptics Network (AVN) as the only source of information on vaccines.

AVN has repeatedly fallen foul of NSW authorities, including Fair Trading, for its anti-vaccination stance and was forced to change its name to better reflect its views, as well as losing its charitable status. –Business Insider

The AVN celebrated it’s deception on Facebook:

It’s unacceptable that any health provider could ever refer patients to a group that activley opposes medical care.

Meryl Dorey of the heavily discredited Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network will be speaking at the upcoming Healthy Lifestyle Expo in Queensland despite objections from local health authorities. Despite being fully aware that Ms Dorey will disseminate false and misleading medical advice, the event organiser is pushing ahead.

THE state’s top health experts have called for the Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network to be barred from disseminating information at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo, arguing their views were dangerous and inaccurate.

…

AMA Queensland president-elect Shaun Rudd said the group should not present information at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo, as their views were “far from healthy’’.

“Anti-vaccination has nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle,’’ Dr Rudd said. “It promotes the chance of kids getting a serious illness or death.’’

The state’s Chief Health Officer, Jeannette Young, said she supported moves to limit the ability of the group to communicate inaccurate information about immunisation.

Expo organiser Wayne Pina-Roozemond said while Ms Dorey’s views were possibly dangerous, he defended the group’s right to put their view at the expo. –The Courier Mail, 13th May 2014

Meryl Dorey has put out a call for someone to debate her at the expo, her request was answered by Peter Bowditch.

The anti-vaxxers became ecstatic about the offer and before Peter even had time to repond to the offer in full Meryl Dorey went on the attack, because that’s how anti-vaxxers make friends. Ms Dorey was upset the Peter still hadn’t responded to his formal invitation from the expo organisers after a week, despite the fact that he was still well before the deadline for a required response.

She even paid Facebook to advertise a defamatory article she wrote about him.

Peter Bowditch did eventually decline to attend the debate which I think is a good move considering the amount of venom spitting from Dorey and her fellow anti-vaxxers. The Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network formerly known as the Australian Vaccination Network has a long history of harassing and threatening people who oppose their views.

Reasonable Hank has documented a few such incidents: Death threats and threats of harm incited by the Australian Vaccination Network

I have personally received an email from one of Meryl Doreys friends in the US. Which asked for the following:

Below are additional sets of questions I have about you, and your activities in the SAVN.

In addition to my first set, comprised of the following: 

(1)   “a current photo of yourself, your home address, your work address, your employer’s name, your immediate supervisor at work’s name,” I would like a photo of each of your vehicles, including the license plate numbers and a brief description of where you park them both at home and at work.

(2)   I want to know who paid your legal fees regarding the AVO.

(3)   I want to know where, and when, specifically, SAVN meetings are held, who usually attends them (specific names). 

(4)   I want to know who funds the SAVN.

(5)   I want to know how many members of the SAVN control group are male homosexual?  What are their average ages?  How many are AIDS infected?

(6)   I want to know about your general plan for the SAVN’s attack on Meryl Dorey and the AVN.  Are you planning more threats of death, violence, rape, mutilation?

(7)   What did you mean when you used the word “clients” in a recent message on the misc..health.alternative discussion group.

I’ll be back with more.

This email came from a man who has publicly advocated attacking Ms Doreys critics with baseball bats and assault rifles.

So given the current and past hostility aimed at critics I think its wise that Peter not walk into a venue full of Dorey supporters.

The New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission has issued the following warning against the countrys leading health menace.

The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has completed an investigation into the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network, Inc. (‘AVN’), formerly known as Australian Vaccination Network Inc and under section 94A(1) of the Health Care Complaints Act has decided to make the following public statement and warning. The Commission investigated whether information published and disseminated by AVN may be misleading or inaccurate.

AVN was established in 1994 in New South Wales by a group of people concerned about the lack of scientifically-based information cautioning against vaccination. AVN states on its website that the government and the medical community, in general, “exaggerate the safety and benefit profiles of vaccinations whilst downplaying their risks.” AVN states it was formed with the purpose of:

• providing medically-referenced information on vaccine safety and effectiveness
• lobbying to ensure that vaccinations are never made compulsory for Australian children
• supporting those who have chosen not to vaccinate or to vaccinate selectively.

AVN disseminates information to the public via a variety of mediums. These include its website, www.avn.org.au, the magazine entitled ‘Living Wisdom’ (which ceased publication in January 2013), its Facebook page, Twitter account and YouTube. Meryl Dorey, the former President, has also held a number of radio interviews.

The Commission investigation focussed on information provided on AVN’s website and some information disseminated on AVN’s Facebook page.

Public warning
The Commission has established that AVN does not provide reliable information in relation to certain vaccines and vaccination more generally. The Commission considers that AVN’s dissemination of misleading, misrepresented and incorrect information about vaccination engenders fear and alarm and is likely to detrimentally affect the clinical management or care of its readers.

Given the issues identified with the information disseminated by AVN, the Commission urges general caution is exercised when using AVN’s website or Facebook page to research vaccination and to consult other reliable sources, including speaking to a medical practitioner, to make an informed decision.

The Commission has recommended that AVN amend its published information with regard to the above issues and the Commission will monitor the implementation of these recommendations.

Further information

Read the full public warning.
If you have any questions, please contact the Health Care Complaints Commission, on 9219 7444 or send an email tomedia@hccc.nsw.gov.au.

–NSW HCCC, 30th April 2014

The AVN has responded with hostility accusing the Health Care Complaints Commission of corruption and incompetence by saying.

In a move that displays the worst of medical politics, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) has once again issued a public warning against the Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network, Inc. (AVN). This office and the way in which they have carried out their ‘investigation’ are an absolute disgrace. They have made themselves into a laughing stock. Far worse, they have clearly demonstrated that nobody can have faith in any statements made by this government body when they continue to rely upon verifiably incorrect and biased information.

Several years ago, the HCCC conducted a year-long ‘investigation’ into our citizen-run healthcare consumer watchdog group. They did this at the behest of the Australian Skeptics and their splinter group, Stop the AVN – organisations with close ties to pharmaceutical and mainstream medical interests. -Meryl Dorey, 1st May 2014

Contrary to Ms Doreys claims, Stop the AVN receives no funding from any government body or pharmaceutical company. It is a volunteer run group of concerned citizens dedicated to shutting down her organisation and protecting the public from the misinformation spread by the Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network.

During the course of the investigation the AVN attempted to identify the HCCCs experts. We don’t know why, but given the AVNs history of harassing and abusing anyone who blows the whistle on them we can probably guess their most likely motive.

The latest moves by Australian regulators should send a clear message to Ms Dorey and the AVN that you cannot simply lie, cheat and bully your way out of the law.

Meryl Dorey of the Australian Vaccination Network has asked her followers to send photos of dead children to Chris Dore the editor of the Courier Mail.

The Editor of the Courier Mail newspaper is Chris Dore. His email address is chris.dore@news.com.au. I would like to ask if everyone who wrote to one of the health ministers last week due to the threats to our rights to claim the FTB also send your letters to Chris Dore. 

….

So please resend your letters to the address above. And if you have a healthy, unvaccinated child, include pictures of them. The same if you have a child who was injured or killed by vaccines. -Meryl Dorey, 13th April 2014

This is in response to the Courier Mail running a campaign called “Keep Our Kids Safe – Immunise” not only are anti-vaxxers opposed to life saving medicine, but anyone who doesn’t agree with them can expect to be bombarded with photos of dead children.

Update on Sunday, April 13, 2014 at 8:15PM

Meryl Dorey is now lying about having sent the email that I quoted in this article.

Here is why the Courier Mail contacted me tonight. Our old ‘friend’ Dun Vulture (again, not using real names because that could get me kicked off of Facebook) from Stop the AVN has been telling lies on his blog page. I know, I know – you are really surprised, aren’t you?

Below is an image of his post that was uploaded this afternoon. Obviously, he or another one of the septics sent this to the Editor of the Courier mail who decided that this was a really big story (as opposed to the stories of our children who have been so badly affected by vaccines…).

Now, all you have to do is read what I actually wrote in the post below – I will copy and paste it here – and you will see that Buzzar – I mean Vulture – kindly added the words “or killed’ to what I’d written. 

“So please resend your letters to the address above. And if you have a healthy, unvaccinated child, include pictures of them. The same if you have a child who was injured by vaccines. ”

But stop for a minute. What if I had asked people to send pictures of their babies who had been killed or injured by vaccines? How many pictures of Dana McCaffery, the child who was killed by whooping cough, do you see on newspapers today, 4 years after she died? But do you ever see pictures of Ashley Jade Epapera who died a year later from the flu vaccine? Or Ian who died a terrible, painful and protracted death from the Hep B vaccine he was given at birth? Or any of the other hundreds of children in Australia who have died as a result of vaccination?

If the editor was upset about getting pictures of babies who had died from vaccination, maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it will prick his conscience (no pun intended) and maybe, just maybe, it will mean that he will stop ignoring our families?

MD

-Meryl Dorey

So here are some screenshots from three seperate and trusted sources.

Now here is Dorey denying having sent the message.

I guess liars just gotta lie.

The Australian Vaccination Network announced the discontinuation of their magazine Living Wisdom over 15 months ago on the 12th January 2013, but as of 12th April 2014 continue to promote it as a benefit for becoming a member of their organisation.

AVN website as of 12th April 2014

In Australia selling something (in this case membership) under false pretences constitutes fraud.

The plight of the Australian Vaccination Network, now known as Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network has taken an amusing turn for the worse. The Director of Investigations, Compliance and Enforcement Division, at the department of Fair Trading has ordered the AVN to quit using the acronym ‘AVN’ and instead adopt the acronym ‘AVSN’ to reflect the groups new name.

The reason the anti-vaxxers have inserted a hyphen into their new name is so they can claim that “Vaccination-skeptics” is a single word and can therefore keep the initials AVN. 

They thought they were smart. Until this happened:

If you have been following our saga during the past year you will know the prequel to this post. For those who missed it, we were directed last year to change our name – after 16 years – because our opponents complained that it was misleading. After exhausting our avenues of appeal, it turned out the Minister for Fair Trading had the power to enforce this. In fact, he introduced a new regulation just so that he could see this through!

So we changed our name. We are now “Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network Inc”. The new name was accepted by our members, as well as by NSW Fair Trading.

Now we have a new threat. Director of Investigations, Compliance and Enforcement Division, Mr David Byrne, phoned last Friday to say he requires us to change all instances of the abbreviation “AVN” to “AVSN”. And he has threatened to commence action without further notice to shut us down and remove our domain from the internet. -Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network, 25 March 2014

The AVN/AVSN currently appears on the first page of Google for “Vaccination” their domain name is vital tool for gaining a new audience and they know it. Which is why they tried the hyphen bullshit.

Not only are they trying to avoid changing their website name but they are also refusing to rename their Facebook page, which is still listed as “Australian Vaccination Network” despite yesterdays deadline for the name change. The trick they are trying with the Facebook page is to create a fake account and pretend the page now belongs to someone else.

Once more AVN supporters thought this would be a smart move.

I hope this obvious bullshit gets tested in court, it will be amusing to see them explain how their page now magically belongs to an unidentified person who conveniently resides overseas.

So what next for the AVN/ASVN?

There has been plenty of speculation about the possibility of the organisation going on the run to escape New South Wales authorities. Recently they have registered the business name “Australian Vaccination Network – QLD” fuelling speculation that they may cross the border into Queensland. We will have to wait and see.

The Australian Vaccination Network has surrendered it’s charity fundraising license.

Is this the end?

History is repeating itself and the Australian Vaccination Network is once again being investigated by the Health Care Complaints Commission.

As you probably already know, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) spent more than a year and a great deal of taxpayer funds investigating the Australian Vaccination Network in 2009 / 2010. This resulted in their being told by the Supreme Court that they had acted illegally and did not have the jurisdiction to investigate our organisation.

Fast forward to 2014 and the AVN is once again facing a lengthy ‘investigation’ and potential public warning by the HCCC. In the the interim, parliament granted the HCCC new powers, so that it can now file its own complaints, investigate them and then, make a judgement based on their own investigation. As a result, a new complaint was recently received by the AVN. -Australian Vaccination Network

Some people just can’t stay out of trouble.

Readers of this blog will be aware that I own the business name “Australian Vaccination Sceptics Network” and also that the Australian Vaccination Network is in need of a new name since the Department of Fair Trading ordered them to adopt a new one.

Rather than adopting a new name they have decided to do the wrong thing and use my business name as their own.

As of Friday, March 7th, the Australian Vaccination Network, Inc. will now officially be known as the Australian Vaccination-Skeptics Network, Inc. We will still have the same domain address (www.avn.org.au) and will still go by the acronym “AVN”.

I already own the business name they want to adopt.

My business registration.

Within a matter of hours, Dr Rachel Dunlop, Mr John Cunningham, Mr Dan Buzzard (against whom our former President, Meryl Dorey, held an interim Apprehended Violence Order [AVO] for 10 months) and Ms Tracey McDermott had registered the following names: 

• Australian Vaccination Sceptics Network (ABN 33 627 009 978)
• Australian Vaccination Skeptics (ABN 82 084 251 657)
• Vaccination Sceptics Network of Australia (ABN 26 113 403 635)
• Vaccination Sceptics Australia (ABN 12 806 631 921)

-Australian Vaccination Network, Newsletter 10th March 2014

So the AVN readily acknowledges that the name is already in use, but continues to use it anyway. The fallout from this will be even more painful for the AVN than they could imagine. After all when was the last time dishonesty worked in their favor?

Supporters of the Australian Vaccination Network have vandalised two billboards in Western Australia that promote vaccination.

Two billboards in Fremantle promoting immunisation of children, have been defaced.

The billboards on South Street share stories of local parents who follow an alternative type of lifestyle but also immunise their children.

The campaign was launched three weeks ago by the Immunisation Alliance of WA in response to figures showing that the Fremantle area had one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the country.

Both billboards have been sprayed with red paint spelling out the website of anti-immunisation group, Australian Vaccination Network. –ABC News

So we can now list Crimminal Damage to the long list of deplorable tactics used by AVN supporters.

Anti-vax top ten tactics:

1. False DMCA reports.
2. False reporting of critics websites to anti-virus vendors.
3. Threatening Politicians.
4. Harassing, abusing, vilifying Grieving Families.
5. Seeking Court orders to silence their critics.
6. Abusing Facebooks report feature to get critics banned.
7. Advocating the use of violence against critics.
8. Calling their critics terrorists. 
9. Registering other people’s business names to confuse the public.
10. Criminal Damage. *New*