Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tomorrow, 1 December, is World AIDS Day, an annual day to acknowledge those we've lost to AIDS related conditions and those who are living with HIV. The theme for World AIDS Day 2020 is 'Now More Than Ever'. Since the first HIV diagnosis in Australia more than 30 years ago, our understanding around prevention, transmission and treatment of HIV has improved dramatically. But, despite the investment resulting in extraordinary advances in all of these areas, there is still more to do. As we fight to wrestle this terrible disease into extinction, now more than ever we need to ensure that the advances we have achieved are not lost. Now more than ever we need to ensure that those who need treatment can get it. Now more than ever we need to ensure that those who are at risk of disease take steps to prevent getting it. Now more than ever we must protect against the stigma that still exists within our communities to help save lives and to help protect lives.

Higgins is vibrant and diverse, and we have communities that include many from the LGBTQI+ community. I am proud to represent them all. I work with many LGBTQI+ community groups, including great advocacy groups like Thorne Harbour Health. I'm proud to be a member of Liberal Pride. Higgins is also home to world-leading HIV-AIDS research. Professor Sharon Lewin, the director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, and also a local constituent, has been a leader in HIV-AIDS research. She leads a multidisciplinary research team working on mechanisms of HIV latency, clinical trials, advancing potential HIV cure strategies, and how HIV is affected by co-infections such as hepatitis B. She was central to bringing the International AIDS Conference to Melbourne in 2014 and was local co-chair. I'd like to also acknowledge the hard work of Professor Brendan Crabb AC, the director of the Burnet Institute, which is on the border of my electorate of Higgins. The Burnet's world-class sentinel surveillance system, ACCESS, is now rolled out across states and territories and is being used to monitor HIV related outcomes during the COVID pandemic.

At the end of 2018, 28,000 people were living with HIV infection in Australia. In the same year, there were 833 new HIV notifications, the lowest number since 2001. Of those diagnosed with HIV, 96 per cent were receiving care and 89 per cent were receiving retroviral therapy. Most importantly, 95 per cent of those receiving therapy had a suppressed viral load. This means that Australia has comfortably reached the UNAIDS' 2020 target that more than 73 per cent of those living with HIV have a suppressed viral load. This is an immense achievement that this country should be proud of.

We should also be proud of the PBS access to preventive treatment called pre-exposure prophylaxis—commonly known as PrEP—that we provide to people at medium to high risk of HIV infection. By listing PrEP on the PBS, 32,000 Australians are subsidised each year. Without this subsidy, they would pay $2,500 a year, a cost that would be beyond the capability of many young patients.

HIV can be a sensitive topic for many. So many in the LGBTI community have faced years of homophobia and inaccurate information regarding the risk of developing HIV and AIDS. It can be a topic some don't want to openly talk about. In 2020 a national survey of men who have sex with men found that 21 per cent of participants reported feeling stigmatised within the past year by other people assuming they had HIV. Another survey of the Australian public found 30 per cent of participants reported they behaved negatively towards people living with HIV. This shouldn't be happening. There should be no shame. That's why we need to talk about AIDS openly.

We are fortunate to have one of the best healthcare systems in the world. As a government we are fortunate to have the trust and respect of the Australian public as we seek to keep us all safe from emerging health threats. After all, now more than ever we all need to work together to help prevent and treat AIDS.

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