This is a selection of letters that I have written to the Australian government and UOW academics requesting the evidence for Australia’s vaccination policies. This includes federal and state health departments, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and prominent public health authorities. The government’s responses to consumer concerns do not answer the questions consumers are asking and the letters expose the selective information that is being provided by the media and government on the use of vaccines. The one-sided media presentation of this debate is misinforming the public about vaccines. The information in my 10 year in-depth study of the science and politics of vaccination policies, from the peer-reviewed journals, is published on the UOW website and on my website Vaccination Decisions. Australian universities are not required to correct the academic record when false or misleading information is provided to the public about academic research by lobby group activists or journalists. This allows the media to promote the opinions of individuals who have formed their opinions on selective information. Here is a link to how the government information is selected for use in government policies and promotion to the public.
Letters to the Government and UOW Academics
2018
On the 24 June 2018 I wrote a letter to the WA Health Minister, Roger Cook, describing the community’s concerns regarding his support for the removal and censorship of a billboard that asks the important question “Do you know what is in a vaccine?” The first priority of any health minister is that they demonstrate they are promoting the health of the population and not other vested interests in government policies.
The WA Health Minister is not demonstrating a concern for the public interest in vaccination policies as he has described this question as being “a risk to public health” and he has suggested that he will look at legislating to ban this type of information from being publicly promoted. He has also claimed that the people questioning vaccines are “anti-vaxxers” who are providing “lies, devious and deceitful misinformation” to the public. This is untrue. The concerned community consists of the parents/professionals who have educated themselves on this issue and the information we are providing to the public is university research that is necessary for proper academic debate of this health issue.
In my letter to Roger Cook (24 Juune 2018) I asked if he would meet with myself and other concerned parents to discuss the university research that demonstrates that vaccines are causing a significant increase in preventable chronic illness in Australian children. Roger Cook answered my letter on 16 July 2018 without answering the community’s concerns and without agreeing to meet with us to discuss our concerns. Here is a link to my letter to WA Health Minister, Roger Cook (24 June 2018) and he is his Roger Cook’s response (16 July 2018).
2017
I have written many letters to the UOW academics who are being permitted to promote false information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines on the UOW website. Here is the letter I sent to Professor Alison Jones, executive-dean of the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health on 15 March 2017. This letter was also copied to the Vice-Chancellor, Paul Wellings. The letter was titled “Dr. Anthea Rhodes Providing False Information on Vaccines”.
2016
Please find below the letters I have sent to the Health Department and Human Rights Commission over many years asking questions about the promotion of vaccines in the media. These questions are never answered and evidence has not been provided by the government to support the government’s claims about Australian vaccination policies. The national vaccination program (NIP) is now mandatory in Australia’s social welfare legislation even though it is not mandatory in Australia’s public health policy.
On the 11 October 2016 I wrote to UOW Professor’s Alison Jones and Heather Yeatman asking for the evidence to support the derogatory comments made by John Cunningham about the assessment of my PhD thesis in the Australian newspaper (20 January 2016). This story by John Cunningham, (a medical practitioner and lobby group activist who is not connected to the university) made unsupported claims about my PhD that denigrated me, my supervisor and the University of Wollongong (UOW) – without supportive evidence. My letter titled, John Cunningham and Heather Yeatman’s opinion on immunisation, was copied to UOW Vice-Chancellor, Paul Wellings and many UOW academics. When I did not get a response to this request I wrote to the Australian journalists and the concerned community asking why the mainstream media is allowing members of the public who are lobby group activists to denigrate academic research, without providing evidence for their claims. Here is my open letter to many Australian journalists who have written false or misleading stories about my research in the Australian media – Open letter to journalists re John Cunningham’s unsupported comments on my research (14 December 2016). Here is the letter by Elizabeth Hart that describes the lack of independent evidence supporting the validation of HPV vaccines and the video of Dr. Suzanne Humphries describing the lack of evidence for the safety, efficacy or necessity for the HPV vaccine, Gardasil.
Here is my Letter (dated 6 May 2016) to Gillian Triggs, president of the Human Rights Commission, asking why she did not reply to my letter dated 29 September 2015, titled ‘Censorship and Misrepresentation in the Australian media’.
I finally received a reply from the president of the Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs, on 12 May 2016 stating that Commissioner Tim Wilson had responded to my concerns and therefore the Commission could not provide me with any more assistance. Here is a link to a summary of the breaches of human rights that occurred in federal legislation during the two years that Tim Wilson was Australia”s ‘Freedom’s Commissioner’, according to the audit performed by the Institute of Public Affairs. I replied to Gillian Triggs letter dated 12 May 2016 on 13 May 2016 and 27 May 2016 asking her to investigate the inadequacy of Tim Wilson’s responses to the public’s concerns about the loss of human rights in this Social Services legislation.
2015
5) Letter to the Human Rights Commissioner (5 June 2015) informing him of the biased reporting on the ABC (Newsletter 72). The reply from Tim Wilson, Human Rights Commissioner, (5 June 2015). I replied to the HRC (23 June 2015) and he provided his response on the (23 June 2015).
4) Letter to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the lack of media publicity on the removal of informed consent from vaccination policies (28 May 2015)
3) Letter to the Health Minister’s and the Minister for Social Welfare re Discrimination in Welfare Benefits on Vaccination Status (13 April 2015) Here is the Health Minister’s response. This is a standard reply, similar to the government’s response, that does not answer the specific questions that have been asked.
2) A Letter to the Australian Human Rights Commission re the removal of informed consent from vaccination policies (10 April 2015). Here is the response I received from the HRC, Tim Wilson, to this letter (14 April 2015). Here is my response to the HRC (15 April 2015). The HR Commissioner, Tim Wilson, replied on 4 May 2015. Here is my response to Tim Wilson on 4 May 2015 and he immediately replied stating that it was not part of his role 4 May 2015. Here is my response provided on 6 May 2015 that asks why the protection of informed consent for medical interventions is not part of the “Freedom Commissioner’s” role.
Here is an article from the ex-editor of the British Medical Journal titled ‘Is the pharmaceutical industry like the mafia?‘ and here is a petition that can be signed to stand up for your rights to informed consent in all vaccination procedures.
Here are the international human rights codes that protect our right to informed consent in all medical procedures/interventions.
1) The Letter to the Australian Human Rights Commission re Freedom of Speech and Informed Consent for Medical Procedures eg. vaccination in Australia (15 February 2015)
2014
HPV Vaccines have not been proven to be Cost-effective or Safe:
Letter to the Minister of Health re HPV vaccines: why are these vaccines being subsidised? (5 December 2014)
Letter to the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Minister of Health re complaint about HPV vaccination programs (9 September 2014)
Here is the response provided by the Human Rights Commission (19 September 2014)
Letter to the Minister of Health re HPV vaccines have not been proven to be cost-effective or safe (25 July 2014)
The Minister of Health did not reply.
Letter to the Australian Human Rights Discrimination Commissioner:
Discrimination on the basis of vaccination status is currently unlawful in Australia yet it is occurring with childcare places and in employment in some clinical situations. Here is the letter I wrote to the HRC (3 February 2014).
In 2013 Australia did not have a Human Rights Commissioner for individual rights. A new position was created in 2014 and Tim Wilson was appointed the first Commissioner for individual freedoms in January 2014. My letter regarding discrimination on the basis of vaccination status was sent to Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick (Commissioner for Sex Discrimination) and copied to Tim Wilson after his appointment.
The Human Rights Commission did not reply to this letter.
2013
To the Human Rights Commissioner re Industry Interests in Government Health Policies (31 August 2013)
Letter to the Australian Health Department and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) re The Speculative Health Benefits and Risks of HPV Vaccines (18 July 2013)
To the Chief Medical Officer of Australia and the Federal Health Minister re HPV vaccination for Boys in Australia (18 March 2013) Here is the response from the Chief Medical Officer Part 1 and Part 2. Again the questions that consumers are asking have not been answered and the statements are misleading. The response from the CMO incorrectly states: 1) I have previously received comprehensive responses to my letters to the TGA and Health Department 2) That ‘there is no signal that the safety profile of Gardasil should be changed’. Yet there is significant global concern published in case reports and in the peer-reviewed literature. Here is a list of the serious safety concerns regarding these vaccines that is being ignored by the government. HPV vaccines have now been banned from the national immunisation schedules of India (2013) and Japan (April 2014) and court cases for victims are occurring in Spain, India, and France. See Newsletter 59 2014. A lack of acknowledgement does not mean that the safety signal does not exist.
To the Commissioner for Sex Discrimination re Women, Vaccination and Discrimination (5 February 2013)
Here is the reply (22 April 2013) I received from the HRC to the letters of concern re compulsory and discriminatory vaccination policies. The reply states there is no regulation or legislative instruments in any of the Health Acts to compel a person to accept administration of the vaccines provided. How can Australian institutions threaten employees and health students with their jobs if there is no legal basis for this action? And how can the government refuse welfare benefits to parents who do not vaccinate their children, if there are no laws compelling individuals to accept vaccines? And when bodily integrity is protected under criminal law?
I made a complaint to the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) in January 2013 regarding the inaccurate and unbalanced information that ABC’s MediaWatch provided to the public on the vaccination debate in October 2012. The ACMA investigated this complaint and upheld the media’s right to present unbalanced information. The Final Report (with my original complaint) is published here ACMA Report (January 2013)
2012
To the Federal Health Minister re the public has been misinformed about HPV vaccines (24 February 2012)
To the Federal Health Minister re No Coercive Immunisation Policy (21 January 2012)
2011
To Professor Fiona Stanley (May 2011) and the TGA re Answers needed from Government Ministers regarding the Safety and Efficacy of HPV vaccines (8 August 2011)
Response from the TGA to Answers needed regarding the Safety and Efficacy of HPV vaccines (6 November 2011). This response did not address the specific questions that were asked in my letter and these community questions were subsequently published in a letter to the editor of the journal Infectious Agents and Cancer in February 2013. Here is my reply to the TGA (16 November 2011).
Stephen Hambleton (AMA President) and the lack of transparency in government policy (16 October 2011)
Replies to Misinformation in the Media
- Channel 9 60 Minutes: ‘Getting to the Point’ (June 2011)
- Reply to the Australian Weekend Magazine article titled ‘Feeling the Strain: whooping cough epidemic’ (28 April 2012)
- Vaccines and Autism (21 May 2012)
- SBS Program ‘Jabbed – Love, Fear and Vaccines’ (26 May 2013)
