Couple of quick points.
Stuff is reporting that Labour abolished the sanction for not naming the father of a child on a benefit and that National would reverse this.
The removal of the sanction does not kick in until April 2020. Hasn’t happened yet.
Also reported is National’s plan to apply “money management ” to beneficiaries under 20. This already happens. Introduced under the last National government.
The idea to withhold benefits from non-vaccinators has been proposed repeatedly in the past. The problem seems to be if something untoward happens to a child post a vaccination received purely because the parent needed to retain their benefit, ‘enforced’ by the state, what responsibility does the state bear? This could be argued much further re what is and isn’t a ‘choice.’
But from a philosophical viewpoint, anti-vaxers rely on the herd immunity without contributing to it. Should they be allowed to rely on the herd’s financial safety net without making that contribution?