Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

This week was the 20th anniversary of the first World AIDS Day. HIV is an illness that is not going to go away. There are now about 10,000 people in NSW living with HIV. Of course the nature of the illness has changed a great deal in recent decades. People are living much longer and living much healthier and more productive lives thanks to many advances in medicine. Of course, even though the general experience is that people are living longer and staying healthier, not everyone with HIV has been made ‘well’ by antiretroviral drug regimes. There are still many people who experience ill health from HIV, and a lot of people also have problems with security of income, housing and staying connected to the community to combat social isolation.

The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is: ‘Enjoy life. Take control. Stop HIV/AIDS.’ As I said, while AIDS may no longer be a death sentence, there is still no known cure or vaccine. This means that it is still very important for people to be vigilant, to practise safe sex and to look after themselves. There are many organisations in my electorate that serve my constituents who are living with HIV—organisations like the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, ACON, Positive Living and the Luncheon Club.

I was very happy to note this week that the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, announced $150,000 over two years to the Albion Street Centre in my electorate to coordinate a network of 30 regional World Health Organisation collaborating centres for HIV-AIDS across 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It is important that, while we continue to be vigilant in Australia and to ensure that we keep new infection rates low, we also play a role in our region. We have on our doorstep countries like PNG and Indonesia where infection rates are very high, potentially reaching epidemic proportions, and it is very important for Australia to do its bit to help get the prevention message into those communities and reduce infection rates there.

In New South Wales there are over 10,000 people living with HIV, and the HIV infection rate has increased by around five per cent each year. The infection rate, of course, has slowed, but it is very important to understand that new infections continue to arise in the community and that we do have a responsibility to do all we can to keep those infection rates low and also to make life as good in quality as possible for those people who live with HIV.

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