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Subject: The Truth about the AVN Investigations

The AVN under investigation

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Why all the investigations?

I just received the following email from one of our members (a very long-time supporter of the AVN):Hi Meryl,It may be worth responding to recent press about the investigation into AVN fund-raising. I'm comfortable with pledging money to you - particularly considering that you're not asking for it until you know there's going to be enough to make it worthwhile continuing - but others may have concerns.Good luck!TCTo tell or not to tell - that is the questionI have been up in the air about whether to write to you about this issue or not, but TC's letter has made me realise that I do need to let you, our members and supporters, aware of the pressure we are under and the terrible victimisation of both the AVN and myself personally by an Australian-based anti-choice organisation known to many of our members in particular and the group, SAVN (Stop the AVN) in general.This will be a long email so please bear with me - I want it to be as complete as it can be though much of this is still up in the air.First off, I have not been writing to you about most of what has been happening because I haven't wanted to feed the fire of these groups. The people who are behind these attacks are, in my own personal opinion, totally without morals and ethics. While I oppose those organisations that want to tell you and your children what you can and cannot do in regards to your own bodies, I never have and never will stoop to the level of personal attacks, vilification, and the underhanded lying tactics which have been used against myself and the AVN by these individuals - with the complete cooperation of both the media and government departments may I add.The only thing I have ever asked for is to have an open and honest debate so that others can decide for themselves which side has the best information. But that has never been allowed. Instead, these groups who cannot argue with the information the AVN produces instead, attack the messenger with a viciousness that almost belies their claim to humanity.For an overview of some of these issues which I will not go into further here, please visit my blog post Why I did what I did, Why I do what I do (first printed in the AVN's publication, the Inside Edition)12 months of attackApproximately 12 months ago, an unremitting campaign of harassment began with a complaint filed by an anonymous complainant against the AVN with the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR). They stated that we were fund-raising without the correct authorisation because our fund-raising certificate had expired. This was a situation that both the AVN and the OLGR were perfectly aware of. Our last auditor, a woman who was an AVN member and who helped us out by doing our audit for free for several years, sold her firm so we needed to find a new auditor. Because of the regulations, we could not use an accountant - it needed to be an auditor and, being in a rural area, they are very hard to come by. We stayed in communication with the OLGR and they were perfectly aware and understanding of the fact that we would not be able to submit our audit until we found an auditor. Our paperwork was already with the auditors at the time this complaint was filed and the OLGR stated that they had no issues with our charitable status and as soon as the audit was submitted (about a month later), our certificate was renewed.During this time, members of the group previously mentioned and the organisation, Stop the AVN, contacted all of our advertisers and asked them to pull their ads from our publication. One of our advertisers, someone who had taken out a full years' worth of advertising in both the magazine and on our website / enewsletter, pulled out. Her husband said that she had been so terrified by the calls she received, she was unable to sleep for 2 weeks! To show you how 'ethical' these characters are, they found out that one of the other vaccination support groups in Australia had not registered their business name properly. This group started the same month as the AVN - in March 1994 - and have gone by that name for all that time.These people set up a website using this organisation's name to specifically attack all of the volunteer groups in Australia who freely give their time and energy to making sure that people can access the other side of the vaccination story. On this website, they have established something called the Hall of Shame where they have listed the names of people who support free and informed health choice and have asked people not to support their businesses. They have listed the business details for everyone who is involved in these organisations - even our partner's private businesses - without any explanation but perhaps so that the harassment can continue with those who love us and support what we do. They have tried to get venues where I am scheduled to present vaccination seminars to cancel and have harassed those who sponsor such events.They continually attribute things I haven't said to me. Saying that I believe in the Illuminati and Reptilian Aliens are just some of the most blatant examples of this. There are so many more it's not even funny. They have even gone so far as to follow links on articles I've sent to our email list and say that I support what is at that link even when I have sent an article - the links on that page are not under my control.There is more I could tell you including death threats and accusations of being a child killer, but suffice it to say that it has been 12 months of this sort of thing and I am well and truly over it!This whole situation came to a head about 7 months ago when a complaint was filed against both the AVN and myself with the HCCC which you have all had links to. This seems to have disappeared from our website since we put the new site up but I will be speaking with our website designer this afternoon and will ask her to put this back up so if any of you have not read the original complaint and our replies, please visit the site tomorrow and you should (hopefully) see that information there.Along with this HCCC complaint, there have been an unending string of complaints filed against both myself and the AVN every time I'm on either the radio, TV or in newspapers. Without fail, the media will receive complaints stating that they should not be interviewing someone like myself who is not only anti-vaccine (in their words), but under investigation to boot!This last week, two more complaints were filed. I only found out about these complaints when our local rag, the Northern Star, published an article entitled Vaccination Group Investigation. I found out from the paper that one of the complainants was the same person who filed the complaint against us with the HCCC. The other one was, no doubt, one of his cronies from Stop the AVN. As a result, the OLGR is coming out to do a complete internal audit of the AVN and I am not concerned about this because we take the trust of our members and supporters very seriously. But it is yet another example of how we are constantly under attack from these people and how we have to waste such an enormous amount of time and energy taking care of this crap when there are so many other things that are actually important for us to be taking care of!In addition, they have filed a second complaint with ASIC when we are no longer even registered with ASIC and haven't been for a couple of years. Grasping at straws and wasting the public's time and money - but that is nothing new for these people.In addition, members of SAVN are saying that the AVN has no money because I have spent it all and that I have taken out bank loans to prop up the organisation.Both of these statements are complete lies.I started this organisation in 1994 and from that time to the present, I have been a full-time volunteer for the AVN. It is not unusual for me to spend 60-80 hours a week on AVN work. Despite this huge investment of my time, I am not now nor have I ever been paid by the AVN. For approximately the last 2 1/2 - 3 years, I have drawn a very small weekly amount as editor of Living Wisdom which is a separate body that is owned by the AVN (and I edited the magazine for 4 years before we were in a position to pay me anything). When times have been tough, I have foregone even that small payment.My husband and I have put our own money into the AVN as we have been able when there has been a shortfall (my husband is a farmer and you know how hard times are and have been for those on the land...). We have usually been paid back over time. At this point however, our biggest personal exposure comes from the fact that we have gone guarantor for all of the leases and obligations that the AVN has taken on (computers, photocopier, etc.) so were the AVN to fold, we would be personally liable for those obligations.Anyone who claims that we have profited personally in any way from this organisation is not only wrong, they are immoral and have probably never done a day's volunteer work in their lives. No regretsI have said many times that if I had put the time and energy that I have given to the AVN into my own business, I would be rich right now. I believe that firmly. But my own business would never have given me the strong, enduring sense of satisfaction that my involvement with the AVN has done. Nor would it allow me to look back over these last 17 years and know that no matter what the future holds, I have done what I could to protect not only the health and rights of my own children, but of all the other children in Australia whose parents otherwise would not have known they had a choice.Whether you feel comfortable with pledging or donating to the AVN is up to you. What the outcome of all these investigations will be is unknown. I gave up a long time ago expecting justice from government departments but am hopeful that those who throw the dirt will find it flying back in their faces.Thanks for reading this and feel free to give me a ring if you would like to discuss anything that I've said.All the best,Meryl02 6687 1699

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