The text can be found here.

This sounds like an excellent idea. Finally, the government steps up; they will cut off Family Tax Benefit bonus payments to those who refuse to immunise their children, endangering not only their children’s lives, but also the lives of those children who are too young to be immunised. If you don’t immunise your kids, you don’t get the full family tax benefit.

This is great, right? Wrong.

It does nothing of the sort. What it does it gives people too slack to keep up with their immunisation schedules a stick and carrot approach to stay on it.

Anti-vaxxers, on the other hand?

About half way down the page, last paragraph under the heading “Stronger incentives to get children immunised” is this gem: “Existing exemptions will continue to be available for people who register as conscientious objectors to immunisation.”

That’s right. The anti-vaxxers can get an exemption to continue on in their ignorance.

Just in case you think I’m misunderstanding this, in a radio interview this morning, I heard The Hon. Nicola Roxon MP (Minister for Health and Ageing) say something like “…some people have strong objections to immunisation and this is not to force them to go against their beliefs.” – which is what sent me looking.

If you really REALLY believe that science is lying to you, and you absolutely refuse to immunise your kids, fine. Ignore confirmation bias, and keep your head firmly jammed up your fundamental orifice.

But do me a big favour, keep your kids the hell away from mine. Particularly our baby due in May next year. I don’t want our newborn baby catching some preventable disease because YOU refuse to play your part in preventing it.

I still have the PDB file, but I no longer have the credit card I used when I purchased it. The book is encrypted with that credit card number.

Fortunately, I can log onto eReader.com (which is now a Barnes & Noble site), and the eBook is still listed in my account there. The website also allows me to reset the encryption to my current registered credit card

In theory, I can download the iPhone app, then install the eBook through the application.

In practice, the eBook won’t unlock after downloading. However, when I download it to the desktop, I can unlock it with the desktop app.

I then have to re-upload to eReader’s “personal bookshelf” and download through the app from there.

That copy will unlock with my credit card details.

So, how exactly is this good for the consumer?

I was fooling around with a “copyright” search engine today.

Punched in my URL, and up popped several websites which copied the entire content of my depression post – and linked back to me. I’m totally cool with that – in fact, I’m absolutely stoked that something I wrote would touch you that much that you want to copy it and link it. I really appreciate that. And to you, the only thing I have to say is “thank you”.

This blog post is NOT addressed to you.

Then there were the two sites who grabbed the post, and quoted it in full, without attribution. That’s just rude, guys. I’ve emailed one, and considering my options on the other.

This blog post is addressed to you.

Then there’s the people who have taken the post and reposted it as their own work.

I don’t write here as much as I’d like to. Partially for the reasons mentioned in previous posts, and partly because I’m not disciplined enough.

So when I do post something, I normally put a lot of work into it.

Please don’t take my writing, change a few words, and then post it as your own work.

That’s just low.