TONY Abbott has announced that parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against deadly viruses will lose childcare payments worth up to $15,000, from January 1.
The reform was hinted at by the government last week, but the Prime Minister officially announced the changes on Sunday.
“The choice made by families not to immunise their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments,” said Mr Abbott of his decision.
Earlier this month, Department of Health released figures indicating the number of parents refusing to vaccinate their children against potentially deadly diseases has doubled since 2006.
The data shows the number of children under seven who in 2006 were not vaccinated due to their parents’ “personal, philosophical, religious or medical” objection was 18,899.
However, by the end of 2014, 39,523 children of that age were on the “conscientious objectors” register.
THEY were caught in the middle of an ugly tug-of-love but at least two of the four sisters forcibly moved back to Italy during a notorious custody dispute now say they are happy.
Sixty Minutes last night aired an interview with Claire and Emily Vincenti, who say they love their father, who fought for two years to have them returned to Italy after their mother, a Queenslander, refused to return them after a holiday to Australia.
The footage of the girls being dragged screaming away from their mother in 2012 was shown around the world.
Claire said she ‘exaggerated a little bit’ when she told the courts how much she hated Italy ‘and that was just because I was liking my life in Australia and that was just because I didn’t want to leave.’
The girls said they haven’t seen their mother, Laura Garrett, now 35, since they left, but told reporter Tara Brown that they hoped she would visit them in Italy soon.
IS it love or is it Stockholm Syndrome?
A Seattle teacher who seduced and raped a 12-year-old boy sat down for an interview with Barbara Walters last night, and the boy – now a man – was sitting right beside her.
Mary Kay Letourneau was convicted of the rape of her 12-year-old student, Vili Fualaau, in 1996. She first met the child when he was in grade two, and she taught him again when he was in grade six.
She was sent to prison and released on the proviso she never see him again but she was by then already pregnant with Vili’s first child. Eight months after release, she was caught having sex with him in a car.
She was sent back to prison, only for guards to discover she was again pregnant. She gave birth to Vili’s second child while behind bars.
Immediately upon Mary-Kay’s release, Vili – by now an adult – applied for a protection order to be lifted. He then married her, and the couple’s two teenagers also took part in the interview, saying the only weird thing about their family was how they used to have to visit Mom in prison.
AN unemployed dole recipient was apparently stoked to discover that he could withdraw as much money as he wanted from his local ATM.
Luke Brett Moore, 27, immediately went on a spending spree in questionable taste, buying a powerboat (okay), a Maserati (cool), a Pro Hart painting (why?) and a signed photograph of Kylie Minogue (the less said about that the better, perhaps.)
Goulburn police officers told the court it wasn’t difficult to figure out who was spending the money because Luke was parking cars worth more than they earned on over-grown vacant lot beside his run-down house. He now faces criminal charges related to the missing $2 million.
IT is in from the cold for Cuban leader Raul Castro, who has been granted an audience with President Obama.
Castro – brother of Fidel – is hoping for a more open relationship with the US. The two leaders – one elected, one decidedly not – met in Panama over the weekend.
The US considers Cuba a sponsor of terrorism. Cuba also jails poets and librarians for dissidence. Still, Obama hopes they can be friends.
JUSTIN Bieber is a wanted man – in Argentina.
A South American judge issued a warrant for Justin’s yesterday, after the Canadian singer failed to face questions about an alleged assault at a Buenos Aires nightclub in 2013.
A local photographer says Bieber and one of his bodyguards scuffled with him after he tried to take a photograph of the star.
ANOTHER Australian faces the death penalty for drug importation, this time in China.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that former jockey, Anthony Roger Bannister, 43, was stopped from boarding his China Southern flight to Sydney on March 11 last year after customs officers detected ice in ladies’ handbags stuffed in his suitcase.
Mr Bannister says he was an unwitting mule.
RUSSELL Crowe watched a Scientology video and discussed it with Tom Cruise but decided not to go there.
Crowe has told The Huffington Post that he had watched the video, talked about it with Tom, who was a friend through Nicole Kidman. He didn’t join the cult, still considers Tom a ‘cool guy’ but hasn’t seen him since Nicole’s divorce, joking that when they said ‘Who gets Russell?’ in the settlement, Nicole won.
