The Informed Medical Options Party, formerly known as the Involuntary Medication Objectors (Vaccination/Fluoride) Party, was an Australian political party. The party's policies opposed compulsory

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

programs and water fluoridation. The Party states that these are "mass-medication programs" where there is "genuine scientific uncertainty about the benefits and risks in a genetically diverse population".

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an Australian public company by guarantee formed as a professional association for Australian doctors and medical students. The association is not run by the Australian Government and does not regul ...

president Tony Bartone said the party's views "lack the backing of scientific evidence" and that its members "should consider the harm that can ensue upon the Australian community". It was registered for federal elections on 26 October 2016. Party founder Michael O'Neill said the "

anti-vaxxer Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...

" label regularly used by critics was "insulting". In August 2023, the party merged with the

Health Australia Party The Health Australia Party (HAP) is a political party in Australia, founded in 2013 as the Natural Medicine Party. It adopted its current name in 2015. The Health Australia Party first contested an election under that name in 2016, where it se ...

(HAP) to form the

HEART Party The HEART Party (Health, Environment, Accountability, Rights, Transparency) is an Politics of Australia, Australian political party. It was founded in August 2023 as a result of a merger of the Health Australia Party (HAP) and Informed Medical Opti ...

, although HAP withdrew from HEART on 10 October 2023.

History

The party ran candidates in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in the

2019 Australian federal election The 2019 Australian federal election was held on Saturday 18 May 2019 to elect members of the 46th Parliament of Australia. The election had been called following the dissolution of the 45th Parliament as elected at the 2016 double dissolut ...

for the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

and received a total of 17,055 total votes as first preference. They were not successful in having a candidate elected. In February 2020, the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt opposed the party's application to change its name to the Informed Medical Options Party saying "that such a name would be misleading". The party was successful in its application. In March 2020, Tom Barnett, a party candidate in the 2019 federal election, created a video discussing

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

. In it, he stated: "You can’t catch a virus; it's impossible" and "the only way that you can catch a virus is by having it injected into your bloodstream". The video was removed from

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, with the companies stating that the video was in breach of their policies.

References

{{Australian political parties Political parties in Australia Anti-vaccination organizations Conspiracy theorists 2016 establishments in Australia Political parties established in 2016 2023 disestablishments in Australia Political parties disestablished in 2023

History

See also

References