Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I support the motion moved by the member for Griffith. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, has been called 'the epidemic of our time'. Since first being recognised in 1984, more than 35 million people have died from AIDS or HIV. It is one of the most destructive pandemics in world history. Since the first diagnosis of AIDS in Australia, in 1984, there have been more than 36,000 people diagnosed as HIV positive in Australia. It is estimated that more than 25,000 Australians are currently living with HIV. However, with the combination therapies now available, it is not the challenge that it once was.

AIDS initially appeared in the early 1980s as a trickle of cases and posed a dilemma for health workers, who did not understand it. By the mid-1980s the public was worked into a hysterical state. In Queensland, under the then Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, the hysteria was arguably even worse. Recently released Queensland cabinet minutes from 1985 reveal the depth of misinformation and hatred for the LGBTIQ community at the time. Queensland's then welfare, youth and ethnic affairs minister, Geoff Muntz, said:

As a parent, I would have strong reservations about letting young people compete in a pool that was used for such a sick event as a gay swimming carnival.

Although the then Queensland health minister, Brian Austin, argued in cabinet to rescind the ban on condom-vending machines in Queensland, the Bjelke-Petersen cabinet rejected his arguments and the ban remained, notwithstanding the fact that the World Health Organization had recommended that the ban be lifted. Homosexual activity was a criminal offence in Queensland at the time under Bjelke-Petersen. It was not until 1990 and the first Labor government to be elected in Queensland for 32 years, with the great Wayne Goss as Premier, that homosexuality laws in Queensland were overturned. But in the 1980s police were regularly raiding venues in Brisbane and charging people for engaging in consensual homosexual acts.

With such an unenlightened government in Queensland in the 1980s, the community remained ill informed about AIDS, which promoted fear and encouraged discrimination towards the LGBTIQ community. The grim reaper advertising campaign contributed to that hysteria without providing any information about the disease itself. Although the larger community campaign was devoid of detail, targeted campaigns were being rolled out to the LGBTIQ community with much more detail and practical advice on how to stay safe. The larger community was further gripped with fear when several babies in Queensland died after receiving infected blood. The AIDS epidemic then became real to all Australians, not just the LGBTIQ community. Although Australia quickly set up screening procedures to ensure that blood transfusions were safe, the fear created by these infections quickly turned into anger. That anger, sadly, was directed at the LGBTIQ community, who were blamed for putting babies at risk. Adam Carr from the Victorian AIDS Action Committee delivered a speech at a public meeting in December 1984, just as the media was latching onto the story of the babies being infected. This is part of that speech:

Unscrupulous politicians, extreme right wing fringe groups, powerful religious bigots and a sensation-hungry media will combine to exploit public fear and to channel ignorance into bigotry and the search for a scapegoat, and we have no guarantee that even the most liberal-minded of governments will be able to resist this kind of pressure for long.

That was 32 years ago. I can relate to the frustration Adam Carr felt at the time.

Sadly, while the issues are different, the fear and division being inflamed by some politicians and elements in the media are the same today as they were in 1984. HIV is no longer the death sentence it was considered to be in the early 1980s. In Australia, more than 80 per cent of people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral treatment. Of these people, 92 per cent have an undetectable viral load. The targets set by the United Nations are that, by 2020, 90 per cent of people living with HIV will know their status, 90 per cent of people diagnosed with HIV will be receiving treatment and 90 per cent of people on treatment will have suppressed viral loads. We cannot be complacent about HIV and AIDS, but we have significantly improved the outlook for those living with it. We must keep up the awareness campaign to highlight the importance of safe sex.

World AIDS Day is an important part of this. Although by far the highest rate of transmission of HIV is through male homosexual activity, I stress that it can be transmitted by both homosexual and heterosexual activity. World AIDS Day is also a show of support for those in the community living with HIV, their friends and families and the many activists and researchers who have worked tirelessly to make it possible to live with HIV. I mention in particular the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation. It has been around since the 1980s. In fact, my brother was collecting for the foundation nearly 20 years ago when he met his partner, Michael—and they are still together.

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