Australia is to deny state benefits to parents who fail to get their children vaccinated.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the move was aimed at improving immunisation rates.

Parents who fail to get their children vaccinated could be denied up to $15,000 AUD (€10,736) worth of benefits.

Families with children who are not immunised can still receive annual childcare rebates and other benefits if they have a personal, philosophical or religious objection to vaccines.

However, Mr Abbott said that only strict religious or medical reasons for non-vaccination would be accepted under the new legislation.

He said: "Yes people can, if they like, object to having their kids vaccinated, but if you don't have your children vaccinated, other than on strictly religious or medical grounds, you won't qualify for the supplement and you won't qualify for the child care payments.

"This is essentially a 'no jab - no pay' policy from this government. It's a very important public health announcement.

"It's a very important measure to keep our children and our families as safe as possible."

He said the rate of objection to immunisation has more than doubled in the last decade from fewer than 15,000 children to almost 40,000.