Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support this motion from the member for Higgins. As previous speakers are already noted, yesterday, 1 December 2013, was World AIDS Day. It is important to restate some figures to remind us all just how widespread and dangerous HIV-AIDS has become. This reminder is necessary because somehow the scale of AIDS no longer manages to shock us and no longer stirs our compassion as it should. We have become inured to the facts of AIDS. More than 35 million people now live with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and almost 10 per cent of these people are under the age of 15. Alarmingly, every day more than 6,000 people contract HIV.

Our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, is also fighting this deadly epidemic, and I am pleased Australian aid money assists them with this challenge. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge my colleagues from the PNG government. In 2011, the Kirby Institute estimated the number of people living with HIV in Papua New Guinea to be 34,000, which translates into an HIV prevalence rate of 900 per 100,000 people. UNAIDS's estimates for 2012 put the number of people living with HIV in PNG at 25,000. UNAIDS has also stated that in 2012 there were 13,000 children under the age of 17 left orphaned by AIDS in Papua New Guinea.

In 2011, I visited PNG with the then shadow foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop. During our time there, we met with representatives of Oil Search, including Managing Director Peter Botten and Mr Aopi. We saw firsthand some of the outreach work Oil Search is undertaking with local villages. Oil Search operates all of PNG's currently producing oil and gas fields and has a 29 per cent interest in the PNG LNG Project. Most importantly, the company has successfully developed public-private partnerships with PNG's national and provincial governments, non-governmental organisations and faith based organisations to improve HIV prevention and treatment.

Through the Oil Search Health Foundation, which was established in 2011, the company has been able to secure grants from the global fund worth nearly $US80 million, and the company has also contributed more than $10 million of their own funds to tailor HIV programs to meet the specific needs of PNG people. Working closely with the PNG Department of Health, the Oil Search Health Foundation has aligned their HIV program and support services to the country's national standards and is now delivering health, education, treatment and support services where they are needed most. Today, a team of nearly 100 health foundation staff, most of whom are PNG nationals, deliver HIV, maternal and child-health and malaria programs in six of PNG's 22 provinces and support 55 health facilities that have performed over 36,000 HIV tests and distributed over 600,000 condoms since 2008.

On World Aids Day, oil search raises awareness about HIV by putting up big red ribbons at all its camps. Staff are also invited to participate in educational presentations. The Oil Search HIV program conducted its first HIV questionnaire last year for oil search's workforce in PNG. It showed a solid level of knowledge and understanding of HIV. The questionnaire was also repeated this year.

In addition to the services provided by the health foundation, since 2003 oil search's in-house medical team has also treated over 32,000 patients from its workforce and from communities in and around the areas in which it operates. Managing director Peter Botten says that these figures make oil search PNG's largest healthcare provider outside government. This is clear evidence of the enormous impact that businesses can have on people's lives, and I encourage more businesses to follow oil search's lead. In July 2014, Melbourne will host the 20th international AIDS conference. It will bring together 14,000 delegates from around 200 countries, making it the largest medical conference ever held in Australia.

The challenge of AIDS has not abated. The cost of care remains incredibly high, and the impact on those who have AIDS, their families and friends and the broader community make this a challenge that we must confront. I join with the member for Higgins in asking this parliament to continue Australia's strong commitment to an enduring and effective partnership between government, scientists and the community to meet the needs of people living with HIV, to continue Australia's strong commitment to medical health and research and to foster and cultivate Australia's medical health and research community and researchers to ensure that we stay at the forefront of all aspects of treatment, care and research in HIV. I commend the motion to the House.

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