Page 4214 - Week 13 - Thursday, 14 December 2006
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long ago that a dollar given to women was more likely to benefit children than a dollar given to men in many countries other than Australia, as they are more likely to spend it on alcohol, gambling or other things.
At the AIDS breakfast the other day I was interested to find out that there is a slight growth in the number of people being diagnosed as HIV positive. For the first time there are the same numbers of women in those statistics as there are men. It is a bit troubling if that is a sign of how women’s empowerment and equality in Australia might have stepped back. A lot of the advertisements that have reappeared featuring women, girls and violence are about empowering girls to say no to sex that they do not want and that is not protected.
There has been a bit of a rollback—no pun intended—in the use of condoms in relationships, which often has something to do with the power of women and girls to negotiate the terms of sexual intercourse. We must never go back to the old days. If we run a campaign that states, “Just say no to sex,” we are denying girls, boys and young people access to important information that will benefit them. We might want them to say no to sex but that will not happen.
One of the areas in which HIV/AIDS infection is most likely to occur in the ACT is among people who are incarcerated. Today I had a look at the new prison legislation that was tabled to see whether it contained something we have been on about for a while; that is, a needle and syringe program. I understand all the objections that people might have. They believe this might be similar to the “Just say no to sex” campaign. We do not want people in prison using injectable drugs but the reality is that they do.
When I visited the remand centre a couple of weeks ago I was shown a cabinet that contained a whole array of things that people used to inject themselves with drugs or other substances. The important issue is not so much the things with which they inject themselves but the fact that they use anything. They inject drugs and of necessity they need to share those instruments. While the legislation does not refer specifically to a needle and syringe program, chapter 2, new section 8 (a), entitled “Management of correctional services”, makes reference to ensuring that public safety is the paramount consideration in decision making about the management of detainees. As far as I can see, that means we do not want to create a prison that is an incubator of blood-borne diseases. Chapter 2, new section 9 (a), entitled “Treatment of detainees generally”, makes reference to respecting and protecting a detainee’s human rights. New section 52 (1), entitled “Health care”, states:
(1) The chief executive must ensure that—
(a) detainees have a standard of health care equivalent to that available to other people in the ACT …
(2) In particular, the chief executive must ensure that detainees have access to—
The list of items then details necessary health care programs, including rehabilitation programs. So I did not find what I was looking for in the legislation. Apparently this issue will be covered in the regulations, which I look forward to seeing. I hope that
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