The Federal Government is making it harder for parents to put kids at risk by choosing not to vaccinate them.

The Government is cutting the conscientious objector exemption on children’s vaccination.

It means parents cannot access taxpayer-funded Child Care Benefits, the Child Care Rebate and the Family Tax Benefit Part A end of year supplement if they do not vaccinate their children.

From 1 January 2016, ‘conscientious objection’ will be removed as an exemption category for child care payments, though exemptions on medical or religious grounds will continue.

Under the new rules, a religious objection will only be available where the person is affiliated with a religious group whose governing body has a formally registered objection, and has been approved by the Government.

While Australia has childhood vaccination rates over 90 per cent from one to five years of age, vaccine objection rates for children under the age of seven are increasing steadily, especially under the conscientious objector category.

Right now, more than 39,000 children aged under seven are not vaccinated because their parents are vaccine objectors. This is an increase of more than 24,000 children over 10 years.

“The Government is extremely concerned at the risk this poses to other young children and the broader community,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on the weekend.

“The choice made by families not to immunise their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments.”

The father of a young boy who died from whooping cough has come out in support of the “no jab-no pay” policy.

WA man Greg Hughes and his wife Catherine lost their four-week-old son Riley John Hughes in March.

Riley was too young to receive vaccination for whooping cough, which is usually administered at two, four and six months of age.

“We do see that it will have a positive effect and that lives will be saved as a result of this,” Mr Hughes told News Corp reporters.