[6] It was boosted by parent activists representing children who had died of preventable disease, notably the families of Riley Hughes and Dana McCaffery,[4] infants who died of pertussis, leading to a backlash of harassment and trolling from anti-vaccination activists.
[10] The campaign was a response to a rise in "conscientious objections", which had reached record levels[11] particularly in the Sunshine Coast area of Queensland,[12] where early attempts to pass legislation were knocked back in 2014.
[13] Efforts to circumvent the legislation included the founding of more fake religions, of which the best known, the "Church of Conscious Living", was promoted by anti-vaccine group the Australian Vaccination Network[14][15] (since renamed to Australian Vaccination-risks Network after legal action over its deceptive name),[16] and by anti-vaccination activist Stephanie Messenger.
[21] No Jab No Play was introduced at the state level, in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria in 2017,[22] leading to an immediate though small rise in immunisation rates,[23] with Western Australia, which has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, following in December 2018.
[25][26][27] A study on the impact of removing conscientious objection from financial payments and childcare enrolments found that the policies led to a significant increase in childhood vaccination above the pre-intervention trend.