Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Smith for the question, and it's a very important question. The No Jab, No Play policy worked very effectively, and continues to work very effectively, to encourage Australia to meet and to achieve some of the highest rates of childhood vaccination and immunisation in the world. The policy was implemented after it had been identified that there were areas of decline occurring in relation to childhood vaccination, that those areas of decline were obvious in particular communities around the country and that it was crucial to create stronger incentives for people to make the decision and the choice to have their children vaccinated.

Pleasingly, those policies have worked. Indeed, I am sure the success of childhood vaccination in Australia is one of the reasons why the COVID-19 vaccination program has also been so successful across this country. We are, overwhelmingly, a nation of vaccinators—people who recognise the medical benefits of vaccination. Importantly, a program like No Jab, No Pay was structured to particularly motivate those who may just not have gotten around to getting a vaccination. It was, crucially, to encourage people and to make sure they were very aware of the importance of getting vaccinated and to think it through seriously if they were not going to do so. We know that program has worked and has lifted vaccination rates across Australian children once again. In doing so, it has not only protected those who have been vaccinated but, importantly, it has helped to protect even those children who have not been vaccinated, by continuing to maintain high levels of herd immunity for a number of childhood diseases.