Australian Vaccination-risks Network

About

The AVN was started in 1994 by a group of parents and health professionals who were concerned about the lack of scientifically-based information on the ‘other side’ of the vaccination issue.

Further pages

Why The AVN? – What We Do
Who Is The AVN?
About Tasha David
AVN Constitution
Code of Ethics
AVN’s response to the HCCC
Website Terms and Conditions
AVN’s Privacy Policy
Our leaflet

Our association

The AVN is an incorporated association, incorporated in New South Wales in November 1994. Read about incorporated associations on the NSW Fair Trading website: Incorporating an association. From the page:

Generally, organisations that may incorporate are small non-commercial community groups. The types of associations that may consider incorporation include:
sporting groups
arts and crafts groups
social groups
ethnic and cultural groups
pensioner associations
musical societies
environmental groups.

You cannot incorporate if you are planning to operate as a business or to provide monetary gains to members. An incorporated association must have a minimum of 5 members.

On the AVN Blog

Visit the following page to see a collection of posts on our blog featuring the AVN’s news and activities: Articles about the AVN

Also go to these pages to see articles on our blog about the media: Media articles and government: Government articles

Background

Back in 1994 we were feeling that the government and the medical community, in general, tended to exaggerate the safety and benefit profiles of vaccinations whilst downplaying their risks and true effectiveness.

For that reason, our group was formed with the express purpose of:

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

From the beginning, we have operated as a volunteer-run community organisation. We used to be a membership and donation driven group whose only sources of funding were provided by our membership and sales of books, videos and DVDs in our web shop.

In 2009 however, an organisation was set up with the goal of forcing our organisation to close down. This group has filed dozens of complaints against us with various government departments and media outlets. They do not believe that freedom of speech or communication should be protected in Australia and want to close down the debate on this issue.

As a result of one of these complaints, the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) issued a public warning against the AVN. We fought against this warning and won our case in the NSW Supreme Court on the 24th of February, 2012. The HCCC were ordered to pay our costs and removed the warning. The Supreme Court stated that both the investigation and the warning were Ultra Vires (beyond their power) and their conduct of this investigation was illegal.

You can read more about both the complaints and the HCCC investigation here.