The Blue Mountains mayor has criticised the group for issuing a third request to park its bus in the area
The Blue Mountains mayor is calling on the local council to refuse a third request from an anti-vaccination group to park its tour bus in a Blue Mountains park.
The Australian Vaccination-risks Network (AVN) is asking the Blue Mountains City Council for a third time if it can park its bus on Blue Mountains land after previously asking in July and October 2020.
Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill says the continued requests of the AVN are dangerous and should be met with another refusal.
“We are still in the midst of a global pandemic and more than 12,500 Australians have died from COVID-19,” Greenhill says.
“Cases are again currently surging and globally we have seen more than six million deaths. We will not allow the AVN or anyone to use public lands to disseminate misinformation.
“It is a view that is not based in scientific fact. This is not about freedom – it’s about science. When it comes to vaccines, as with climate change, we defer to science.”
Greenhill says he expects the mayoral matter of urgency on the topic to be passed by the council when it is put before them on August 30.
The matter of urgency will state that the council notes that the dissemination of dangerous misinformation on public health matters challenges gains made over the past century, that these campaigns put at risk vulnerable members of the community and agrees that science must be put before misinformation about vaccines unless it is countered with balanced information.
In its submission to the council, the AVN says it wanted to seek permissions to use parking at a public park in the Blue Mountains on September 3.
After touring Australia for two years, Greenhill says he won’t let the AVN stop in the Blue Mountains region.
“I believe any request by anti-vaccination groups to hold events in the Blue Mountains should be refused,” he says.