Some practical tips & guidance for those wishing to remain unvaccinated.

As someone who regularly presents seminars as well as professionally advises in the areas of personal & business risk management, asset protection and estate planning, here’s some points I’d like to you to maybe consider:

Firstly please note, life is essentially a fatal disease i.e. “no one gets out of life alive” ??. It’s just whether you choose to do it in an organised or chaotic fashion… ??

(I’ll discuss this further below).

So whilst I’m all for everyone’s personal free will and choices, we all also do live in a civilised society for which there are various laws, duties and responsibilities we’ve all collectively had to accept and follow. This is for our own and others’ security & well-being, amongst other matters??.

For example: even if I need to be home urgently, as much is I’d like to sometimes not stop at a red traffic light ?? and simply run through it, I accept they are ‘the rules’. Those rules ('mandates' if you like) are not just for my safety, they're for anyone else on that road who may be affected by my ‘personal decisions’.

Yet, if I ‘choose’ to take only personal (i.e. literally selfish) actions and cause an accident, not only may I compromise/risk my own health and long-term well-being (not to mention any passengers I’m responsible for) but those others around me whom did not wish for that to be inflicted on them. ?

A simple analogy is: if you’re a guest on a yacht ? and you had your own cabin, yet then chose to drill a hole in the floor of only yours, it may still sink the whole yacht for everyone else.

Anyway continuing on the personal accountability aspects - the next thing is that when you’re fit, young and healthy, you’re exactly that??. Until you aren’t…

As mentioned, you may get also older but you will die (YOLO??).

The simple reality of looking at it is that we don’t do immortality round here and in between hopefully a long and healthy life, you will inevitably gradually, lose such vigour and/or likely be influenced by adverse health events??.

Whilst this may have a lot to do with the proactive choices & preventative efforts you may make/take??, it still may be also impacted by other people or brought upon by circumstances beyond your control.

Therefore, while you are in complete control of your body and your decisions, that is great. I myself am very keen on (and put a regular personal investment into ????) living a long, healthy and active life.

However there will definitely come a time when such doesn’t occur; whether permanently through your death or transiently through your ill-health, short-term incapacity or sadly (but which happens more often than you may care to think) long-term total & permanent disablement??.

Unfortunately there are a range of various diseases, viruses, underlying-genetic, lifestyle-inflicted ?? and other adverse health vectors have the potential to injure, permanently harm and/or disable persons they can also substantially reduce their quality-of-life; if not outright life expectancy.

Once these happen, again without possible medical intervention or assistance, which often even then can’t actually reduce, though may diminish , the severity of these life-affecting events ??.

As you may appreciate, none of these facts are debatable.

Accordingly, if you are so determined to be fully and always in control of choices impacting you, you must also be one those individuals who have a valid current:

a)?????Enduring Powers of Guardianship (EPG), Enduring Powers of Attorney (“EPA”) (plus possibly an Advance Health Directive)

if something happened to you during your lifetime so you couldn’t then make any decisions, yet you specifically wanted to direct what people could or couldn’t do to you. As opposed to leaving it in the hands of healthcare professionals or interested persons (I‘ll discuss that further below too).

b)????appropriate, contemporary Will (the latter in the event of your sad yet inevitable, ultimate demise).

By the way I would understand few of you have ever had to sit by a dying person’s bed ??and literally take their last wishes and testamentary instructions to endeavour to properly give effect to such.

It is neither a pleasant nor enjoyable role yet like those incredible doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers I, as an estate planning lawyer, have had the morbid yet distinct professional privilege being able to assist with such. Though, sadly, on too many times I wish count??.

However, conversely, if they have lost testamentary capacity, then we may no longer be able to directly help. They, and more particularly their estate’s potential administrators and ultimate beneficiaries, will then be subject the excruciatingly complex antiquated laws, plus all the delays & cost which inevitably go with dying ‘intestate’ ??.

Similarly if an individual is incapacitated and cannot make decisions for themselves (hopefully on a transient yet sometimes on a permanent basis) then, if they have not got a current valid EPA and/or EPG then someone else will have to do the laborious, extremely time-consuming and immensely frustrating (at such a critical juncture) application to the State Administrative Tribunal?. ?

And that’s assuming someone (else) cares for you enough take the time, effort cost to do that which includes consulting with doctors and specialists, etc. ?Otherwise it will be the Public Advocate who will need to apply for orders to appoint an administrator and guardian to then care for you, deal with your personal, financial and property affairs etc etc.

So no,

·????independent of whether you choose to be unvaccinated and run the definitively proven (and literally ongoing presently) higher immediate, personal health risks,

?????you are also not emancipated by not having your personal affairs in properly order now.

Furthermore when you can work, earn money, readily buy & pay for things plus do all the things you enjoy freely doing, then that’s great. Although, when you can’t, it’s a disaster??.

In order to mitigate the impact of such personal as well as fiscal?? catastrophes, you may have:

??????i.?????????substantial amounts of readily-available money saved; or

?????ii.?????????more commonly (especially when you’re young, ‘in debt’ e.g. have loans or mortgages to pay and/or have ‘dependents’), you can ensure you have in place appropriate insurances such as Income Protection, Total & Permanent Disability and Life/Death Insurance (there’s added complexity to that it’s through your superannuation but I’m not starting on that today); or

???iii.??????????prudently, both.

Please note these are all to do with your ‘personal choices’ and therefore your responsibility. Though, if you're say on a ventilator, they won't be??.?

Once more: it’s a bit like driving your car with the check engine light flashing ??but ‘choosing’ to ignore such. ?Then, subsequently yet unsurprisingly your engine, gearbox or whatever blows-up. ?Now not only don’t you have a usable vehicle, but you’re also put to great inconvenience/delays/stress as well as potentially, substantially-avoidable costs.

The reason why I’m using all these analogies is to provide the practical groundwork to explain the technical, financial, legal realities that may await you when you can’t then put in place those personal choices for yourself??.

Furthermore, once you are in hospital and ICU, it is extremely hard if not currently impossible (especially once you are then placed on a ventilator/in a medically induced coma) to have anyone attend upon you to assist you with things such as an EPG, EPA, Will, insurances, etc??. ?

For the avoidance of doubt (and of course this is not medical advice yet is a very clearly understand by the wider public), you also cannot get vaccinated ?? if you are currently infected with COVID.

This is also hopefully, if you do even survive & recover from such, you don't end-up then suffering from the hideous, ongoing 'long COVID' - with its various debilitating symptoms & potentially-permanent impairments (e.g. 'brain fog', loss of taste, persistent tiredness/lack of energy, damaged lungs/heart etc ??)

Lastly and again selflessly considering all the diligent healthcare professionals ??and workers (together with the various hospitals and medical facilities) as, ultimately, they are front and only line, we must respect their effort and commitment and realise that, if they are overwhelmed, there is no ‘Plan B’.

So if you’re enjoying your carefree life yet something happens and then you need to be admitted to hospital but it is already overrun with say unnecessarily unvaccinated persons who subsequently become severely ill and absolutely needed those care resources, then you or your loved ones might not be able to be treated?. Even less so, if you wanted to have anything which was personally necessary but not essential e.g. elective surgery.

Anyhoo that’s just my musings and, as you’ll have noted, I’ve not telling nor ‘mandating’ you to do anything. Though I hope you might now have some additional insights to help you continue to make informed decisions; whatever you may choose??.

Please note none of the above is intended to be, nor is, legal advice. It is merely guidance and commentary. You should obtain your own specific legal, insurance, medical financial and other appropriate professional advice in relation to your decisions and affairs.