AVN vs NSW Fair Trading:
A Victory for Government
Suppression & Censorship
Once again, the Australian Vaccination Network has taken a NSW Government Department to court due to their unrelenting attempts to shut our legally constituted health lobby group down. Previously, we had cited the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) for their illegal activities and we won in the Supreme Court. This time, our opponent was NSW Fair Trading.
Fair Trading had insisted that the AVN change its name - a name it had held with Fair Trading approval since 1996. In a world-first, the Minister for Fair Trading granted himself extra powers to allow this name grab to occur.
We believe that the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT), in finding against the AVN, exemplified the current climate of government-sanctioned abuse and hatred of anyone who steps away from mainstream medical dogma.
The Member, in her judgement, specifically stated that the AVN is not anti-vaccine nor could the name of our organisation be classed as 'undesirable'. Despite this, or perhaps because of the incredible pressure which must have been brought to bear to withhold from the AVN the same justice which other groups and individuals might rightly expect, she has upheld the decision that we change our name.
Why was the AVN pursued by NSW Fair Trading?This case was never about the AVN's name. This case is - and always has been - about a government that would waste millions of taxpayer dollars trying to close down the AVN while not spending one cent to research the health of the fully vaccinated as compared with the fully unvaccinated. It's about a government that would rather abuse its power to censor opposition and criticism by a legitimate health consumer group than to actually address the issues involved. This is only one of a series of assaults on health freedom in NSW. A parliamentary committee is even now considering outlawing all public discussion of standard medical practice. This will affect EVERYONE in a big way. Medical interests have hijacked the machinery of the NSW government and it's time for all of us to stand up to it. The AVN is proud to have made its stand in court today and we believe that this unjust decision was a foregone conclusion in a state which openly encourages vilification and censorship of those who question medical procedures and government policy. For interviews or further information, please contact: Mr Greg Beattie - [email protected]; or Ms Meryl Dorey - 0414 872 032 / 02 6687 1699
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