The artwork of prominent Australian artist, poet, and political cartoonist Michael Leunig was pulled from the planned posters of the 2022 National Folk Festival (NFF) for his views on the COVID-19 vaccine. In a statement to The Epoch Times, the NFF board acknowledged Leunig’s importance in the Australian creative landscape but said the festival hadn’t been aware of his views on vaccination at the time of their collaboration and would be withdrawing the artwork. “The National Folk Festival is strongly committed to respecting individual beliefs and opinions and the right to hold them,” the NFF statement said on Aug. 30. “However, there is a significant tension between Mr Leunig’s position and the National Folk Festival’s commitment to vaccination as one of the essential tools in enabling the Festival to go ahead in 2022.” Leunig, who was declared a national living treasure in 1999 by the National Trust, told The Epoch Times that he had …