At least three Melbourne doctors are being investigated by the Victorian Health Department and national authorities for supporting the anti-vaccination movement, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told media on Thursday.
"If it is accurate that there are registered doctors who are advocating an anti-vaccination position, then they will have the full force of the authorities come down on them," he said.
"But let us be absolutely clear, there will be no sympathy, none at all from the government if the authorities take the strongest possible decisions.
Mr Hunt said he was "astonished that there are any people who have been through medical degrees who would ...stoop to the level of supporting the anti-vaccination movement".
Dr John Piesse has been filmed speaking at a Melbourne anti-vaccination rally about how he gets children exemptions from compulsory vaccinations.
The Herald Sun reports he is one of three Melbourne doctors being investigated by the Victorian Health Department and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
But Victoria's Acting Health Minister Martin Foley said,
it was "not good enough" that Dr Piesse was still being investigated after concerns were raised about him in August 2016.
"It is deeply disappointing and concerning that after twelve months an investigation into Dr Piesse's practice has not yet been concluded by AHPRA," Mr Foley said on Thursday.
In a video from an anti-vaccination event published by the Herald Sun, Dr Piesse explains how he tries to beat the "no jab no play laws".
"I am a doctor who has been working hard for 18 months to try and help parents get exemption from 'vaccinated pain for vaccinated play', with mixed success," he says.
Melbourne surgeon and vaccination advocate Dr John Cunningham told 3AW some doctors had fallen into a "cult" of "misinformation".
"What I believe these doctors are doing is signing a form saying these children have a medical contraindication to vaccination... which is very rare to have," he said.
Earlier this year, the Federal Government subjected some welfare payments to a 'no jab, no pay' policy as part of a push to ensure 95 per cent of children were vaccinated.
Under the National Immunisation Program, babies are vaccinated for whooping cough, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, as well as measles and mumps and other conditions.
School-aged children are offered vaccination against chicken pox and human papillomavirus, or HPV.
