Anti-vaxxer parents to be hit in the hip pocket

EXCLUSIVE: PIG-HEADED parents who refuse to vaccinate their children will have their family benefits docked every fortnight as the Turnbull government ramps up its immunisation message.

Families who have not had their children vaccinated will lose $28 per child every fortnight in family tax benefits.

PIG-HEADED parents who refuse to vaccinate their children will have their family benefits docked every fortnight as the Turnbull government ramps up its immunisation message.

Families who have not had their children vaccinated will lose $28 per child every fortnight in family tax benefits.

The government was pushed to make the change to close a loophole which would have meant families earning $80,000 would have escaped any penalty.

The current “No Jab, No Pay” policy fines families the one-off $726 supplement, but welfare reforms have cancelled that payment to 400,000 high-income families.

The new measure, which will begin next year, comes as the most recent Health Department statistics shows immunisation rates are deteriorating in many regions, particularly the state’s north coast near Byron Bay and Ballina.

More than 22 per cent of children under 15 months are not fully vaccinated in the region, compared to about 16 per cent in December last year.

Around 6.2 per cent of children under 15 months across the state are not fully vaccinated.

The Tweed Valley and Kogarah, Rockdale and Auburn in Sydney also have lower than average immunisation rates.

Social Services Minister Christian Porter, who will today announce the measure, told the Daily Telegraph there was “no excuse for parents who, without a valid medical reason, choose not to immunise their children”.

“These parents are not only putting their own children’s health at risk, but the health of every other person’s children at risk too,” he said.

“Reducing fortnightly payments, rather than withholding the supplement at the end of the year as occurs at present, will serve as yet another constant reminder for parents to have their children’s immunisation requirements are up to date.”

Since the introduction of the No Jab, No Pay policy in January last year, more than 210,000 families have immunised their children fully.

Immunisation rates for one-year olds increased 1.35 per cent to 93.63 per cent across the country, while that for two-year olds rose 1.75 per cent to 90.06 per cent.

The No Jab, No Pay rule applies to around 1.5 million families, with 134,000 missing out on the supplementary payment for failing to vaccinate their children.