Anti-vaccination seminar venues all pull out – but tour ‘will go ahead’

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A nurse prepares an MMR jab
Opponents have said it would be irresponsible to allow Sherri Tenpenny into the country to deliver her talks. Photograph: D Legakis Photo/Athena Pictures

All eight venues scheduled to host seminars by a controversial anti-vaccination osteopath from the US have pulled out, but the Queensland-based organiser said the Australian tour would go ahead.

Questions have also been raised about the status of an organisation associated with Stephanie Messenger, who has been booking venues to host the talks by Sherri Tenpenny.

With major studies concluding there is no link between vaccinations and the conditions autism and multiple sclerosis, opponents have said it would be irresponsible to allow Tenpenny into the country to deliver her talks.

This month protesters urged the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, to deny her a visa based on character grounds. A spokesman for the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said details of an individual’s visa status would not be disclosed “due to privacy concerns”.

Messenger told Guardian Australia on Monday that the tour, in which event goers could pay $97 to sit in the first two rows and have their photo taken with Tenpenny, would go ahead. “I haven’t heard anything to say otherwise,” Messenger said.

“I’ll be updating ticket holders this afternoon about what is happening and about the venues. We haven’t heard anything from the immigration department to say they will cancel the visa.”

On the Facebook page for the anti-vaccination group Vaccine Free Australia, questions were being asked about how the event would go ahead as planned, with Rydges Hotel South Australia cancelling on Monday.

One commenter wrote that venues would be kept a secret until the last-minute to prevent protests and media attention. “Hardly fair for those who bought tickets and who have a long way to travel,” another user responded.

Peter Tierney, a member of the vaccine advocacy group Stop the AVN, said venues had been misled into accepting the bookings by Messenger, who had told them she was booking a child health or Sids charity event. “We know at least three venues had no idea what it was they were really booking,” Tierney said.

On the seminar bookings page, Tenpenny’s tour is listed as being presented by the GanKinMan Foundation and the Get Rid of Sids Project Inc.

There is no listing for the GanKinMan Foundation on the websites of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission or the Australian Business Register.

A message on the GanKinMan Facebook page says: “We have teamed up with the Get Rid of Sids Project, Inc – a registered charity doing research and education about sudden infant death syndrome”.

The Get Rid of Sids Project is registered on the Asic website under the name of Messenger’s husband, Leslie Bailey, though that trademark has lapsed.

When Guardian Australia asked about the work of the GanKinMan Foundation, Messenger refused to answer. “I’m not answering any questions about GanKinMan,” she said. When asked why not, she responded, “I don’t want to,” before hanging up.

On Monday, a message posted to the bookings page for the South Australian event, originally to be held at Rydges South Park, said the venue had been cancelled because of people “who appear to support censorship of thought and science”.

“A new venue is being sought now so please book your ticket.”

Michael Nee, owner of Michael’s Oriental restaurant in Queensland, said he had cancelled two Tenpenny events on Friday after public pressure. Nee said Messenger had made the booking under the Get Rid of SIDS Project.

The seminars would have been worth $25,000 to his business, Nee said. On 11 January, he said, police had told him there had been a bomb threat made against the restaurant because of his plan to host the events.

Nee also hosts doctors’ functions and said many had threatened to blacklist his venue if he held the seminars.

“I can’t win,” he told Guardian Australia. “And now that I have cancelled, the anti-vaccination people are calling me weak. I believe people should have a right to free speech though, this is a free country.”

According to the Attorney General’s Department website, freedom of expression may be limited to protect “public health or morals”.

In a radio interview last week, Tenpenny said she hoped the tour would go ahead. She described parents who chose not to vaccinate their children as being “more vigilant” than others.

“[They’re] more concerned about getting kids to bed on time, they’re more responsible in many ways than parents who rely on the vaccines, who say, ‘I’m going to get my kid vaccinated then I’m going to take them to McDonald’s,’ ” she said.

If she had a child tomorrow, she would not vaccinate them, Tenpenny said, adding that she came from a family of chiropractors in which no one was vaccinated.

Messenger said Tenpenny still intended to hold eight seminars in Queensland, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.

Do you know more? Email melissa.davey@theguardian.com