Pressure is mounting over a planned speaking tour by American anti-vaccination campaigner Sherri Tenpenny, with at least one venue now cancelling a seminar.
Osteopath Dr Tenpenny – who believes vaccines cause autism, asthma, ADHD and auto-immune disorders – is planning a series of lectures against vaccination in March aimed at parents of babies.
Kareela Golfcourse in Sydney has now cancelled a seminar, while a separate event has also been cancelled in Melbourne.
An organiser of tour, Stephanie Messenger, said those who are opposing the series of talks are trying to hide things from the general public.
“They say they want parents to make an informed choice, but you can’t do that if you don’t have all the information. So they are trying to suppress the information.”
A pro-vaccination group has asked Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to deny the anti-vaccination campaigner a visa to speak in Australia.
Thousands of Australians have now signed a petition lobbying Canberra.
Ms Messenger said cancelling the visa would set a worrying precedent.
“It would set the precedent that they can just cancel visas for anyone who hasn’t done anything wrong,” she said.
“All of Dr Tenpenny’s information is referenced by medical and scientific papers … so I don’t know what they’re trying to stop the people from seeing.”
The Immigration Minister is yet to respond.
“The Minister is taking advice on this matter and will make further comment when appropriate,” a spokesman said.
‘Stay strong’, supports tell Tenpenny
But Dr Tenpenny’s supporters have posted messages on Facebook, urging her to “stay strong” and that “many kids will thank her one day”.
“It’s very unfortunate that they caved into this sort of pressure, but it’s understandable … it’s unfortunate because when they do this sort of thing they allow people who want to suppress free speech to get their way.
Stop the Australian Anti-Vaccination Network member Dave Hawkes said he helped to start the petition calling on Mr Dutton to deny Dr Tenpenny a visa.
“I guess the thing is you’re looking at the difference between people whose views you disagree with and people who are actually endangering people’s health,” Dr Hawkes said.