Page 793 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 1990
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themselves. My department, in conjunction with relevant community groups, is currently examining the issues raised by this situation.
Many other areas and issues require attention, at both a government and a community level - too many for me to detail today. No doubt, some of these will be addressed by the Select Committee on HIV, Illegal Drugs and Prostitution in its inquiries. However, one final area which I would like to raise before this Assembly and in which the Assembly will have a significant role is the question of legislation relating to HIV and AIDS.
I recently announced that the Government would be initiating a review of all HIV and AIDS related legislation in the ACT. The need for such a review has been occasioned by several factors. One of these is the issue of knowingly running the risk of infecting others. Members of this Assembly may recall the "Charlene" case in Sydney, not very long ago, where a woman working as a prostitute continued to do so despite the fact that she knew that she was infected with the AIDS virus.
The case of Charlene was extremely complicated, as several other personal factors relating to her lifestyle and health impacted upon the situation but received little attention in the media. Such complications are thought unlikely to occur again, or at least to be extremely rare. Nevertheless, the case of Charlene raised many issues concerning the ability of governments to act in situations in which somebody is knowingly running the risk of infecting others by continuing high-risk behaviour when they know themselves to be infected. The Government has an obligation to protect not only the community but also the civil rights of the person alleged to be carrying out the activity.
A law enforcement response should be only a last resort. There is a range of actions, such as intensive counselling, which could resolve the situation without constraining a person's freedom of movement or liberty. In this respect the response to AIDS does, and should, differ from the legislative response to other infectious diseases, as no cure for AIDS exists and the infection, and therefore the type of response adopted, may be for life.
In looking at amendments to ACT public health legislation relating to this issue, it became clear that many other areas could be regarded as being out of date or inappropriate in the light of the AIDS epidemic. The Government has therefore decided to initiate a broad-ranging review of legislation relating to HIV and AIDS matters, in relation not only to the "knowingly infecting" issue but also to other issues of relevance, such as occupational health and safety, discrimination and confidentiality.
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