Page 3501 - Week 13 - Thursday, 26 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
They will not understand why sexual relations should not be continued. That puts that person at risk of death. There is no cure for AIDS. You cannot get a shot or take a pill or a syrup, or something, to get rid of AIDS. It is fatal. You die from it. The only protection is prevention. Notification is essential, Madam Speaker, to make sure that prevention occurs. This Government must accept its responsibility to go further and provide that protection by accepting the motion that Mrs Carnell has put forward today and passing the repeal of these regulations.
MR MOORE (11.27): It is interesting that we have heard so many half-quotes and half-truths. It is interesting that we have heard so much on an issue that is so difficult and that so much of it has been so shallow. I would like to take the first point that Mr Humphries talked about, recommendation 2.2: Partner Notification - Professional Indemnity. He failed to continue reading right through it. When you read right through it you begin to understand the complexities of the issue. Had he continued beyond the part about protection of professional care-givers from liability for failure to notify their clients and partners, and that sort of thing, he would have got to this:
Such legislation should require adherence by professional care-givers to a partner notification protocol established by health authorities in each jurisdiction, which should contain the following criteria -
this is the important part -
. the client has refused to notify his or her partner;
. a real risk of HIV transmission exists;
. counselling to achieve behaviour change has failed; and
. advice has been sought from other appropriate professionals, either peers, or members of expert panels established by health authorities for the purpose of providing ethical guidance on partner notification cases.
In the case where partner notification will occur, two additional criteria apply:
. the client has been told that partner identification will occur after a reasonable time period; and
. if the identity of the index case is impossible to conceal, the partner should be obliged to keep the information revealed during notification confidential.
That is part of the recommendations of the legal working party and I hope that in due time the Minister will bring that in as well.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .