Page 790 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 1990
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Another major agency involved in the AIDS field within the ACT is my Department of Health which is responsible for a variety of AIDS-related programs and services. These include AIDS testing and counselling services through the AIDS Reference Centre at Woden Valley Hospital and the pathology laboratories, and education programs for the broader community and school children through the health advancement service.
The department is also responsible for AIDS policy development, coordination and financial management of the AIDS grants programs. Other groups, such as the Haemophilia Support Group, ACT IV League - that is, ACT Intravenous Drug Users League - and Workers in Sex Employment, or WISE, are also active in the field.
One of the major features of the way in which the ACT has responded to the AIDS epidemic has been the extraordinarily high level of cooperation, coordination and consultation between the agencies involved in the field, both government and non-government.
The AIDS Management Group was established in July 1985, and provides advice to the Secretary to the Department of Health on issues relating to the control of AIDS in the ACT, as well as coordinating the development and implementation of an agreed strategy for AIDS control in the ACT. The AIDS Management Group has also provided a forum for exchange of information on issues relating to AIDS in the ACT. However, the effectiveness of the group appears to have declined over time for a variety of reasons, as is often the case with advisory and consultative mechanisms, and this decline is acknowledged by all members of the group.
My department, in consultation with agencies involved in the field and members of the group, is currently examining options to restructure and revitalise it, in order to reflect the changing nature of the epidemic and to be able to respond more effectively to issues as they arise. This will be particularly important over the next 12 months, as AIDS programs are undergoing a period of change and expansion following the release of the national white paper on AIDS in the second half of last year.
A very useful discussion of some of the issues arising out of that Department of Community Services and Health paper appears in the Law Reform Commission publication Reform, in the January edition of this year, No. 57. That contains a very useful discussion of the relationship between AIDS initiatives, either present or forthcoming, and human rights issues in Australia at present. I believe that paper would be worth reading by members of the Assembly who have an interest in this area.
This "National HIV/AIDS Strategy" was produced following extensive consultations between the Commonwealth, States
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