Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move the motion relating to World AIDS Day:

That this House:

(1) notes that 1 December 2013 is World AIDS Day;

(2) recognises that:

(a) more than 35 million people now live with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and almost 10 per cent of these are under the age of 15;

(b) every day nearly 6,300 people contract HIV—nearly 262 every hour;

(c) in Australia in 2012 there were 25,000 people living with HIV and 1,253 new diagnoses of HIV infection—a 10 per cent increase from previous years;

(d) in 2012, 1.6 million people died from AIDS—related illnesses;

(e) in some communities HIV rates are as high as 40 per cent;

(f) since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1980s, more than 75 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 36 million have died of AIDS-related illnesses;

(g) there are now outstanding antiviral treatments available to people living with HIV; and

(h) although a lot of work has been done and many medical advances have been made, there is no cure and no vaccine, so a lot of research and work still needs to be done before we see the end of HIV;

(3) acknowledges that:

(a) in July 2014, Melbourne will host the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014);

(b) the conference will bring together 14,000 delegates from around 200 countries, which will be the largest medical conference ever held in Australia; and

(c) the conference will be chaired by Nobel Laureate, Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, and Professor Sharon Lewin; and

(4) calls on the Parliament to:

(a) continue Australia's strong commitment to an enduring effective partnership between government, scientists and the community to meet the needs of people living with HIV;

(b) continue Australia's strong commitment to medical health and research; and

(c) foster and cultivate Australia's medical health and research community and researchers to ensure we stay at the forefront of all aspects of treatment, care and research in HIV.

I rise today to speak on a motion of great importance. Yesterday, 1 December 2013, was World AIDS Day. To mark this day, the International AIDS Society brought Nobel Peace Prize winner and UNAIDS Ambassador and UNAIDS Global Advocate for Zero Discrimination, Aung Sung Suu Kyi, to Australia to launch the countdown to the World AIDS Conference to be held in Melbourne in 2014. Yesterday His Excellency The Honourable Alex Chernov AC QC, hosted Aung Sung Suu Kyi at a reception at Government House in Victoria where she spoke about the importance of ending discrimination for those suffering from this disease by challenging ignorance and intolerance. She spoke for all of those in the world who do not have a voice of their own. She implored us to continue the fight against AIDS until it is one day eradicated from the world.

World AIDS Day is a day when the world turns its attention to those who have been affected by AIDS and the HIV virus. Human immunodeficiency virus is a contagious disease that is contracted through the exchange of bodily fluids. Once caught, it will eventually lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. There is no time frame to this process and it can in some cases take decades. Advances in treatments have meant that people living with HIV can live active lives for many years. However, to date there is still no cure. HIV attacks the immune system and increases the chances of contracting other infectious diseases. Once AIDS has developed, the patient becomes susceptible to various viruses and cancers which will ultimately prove to be terminal.

World AIDS Day is a time to mourn those who have been lost to this insidious disease and to support those currently in the fight of their lives. It is time to think of families, friends and carers whose lives have been changed irrevocably. It is also a moment to recognise the work that has been done so far in the effort to eradicate the disease, as well as to improve the quality of life of sufferers.

We are so fortunate to have in Australia some of the most pre-eminent researchers in this field. Many would be aware of the significant contribution that the Burnet Institute has made to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of AIDS and related diseases, as well as its ongoing search for a cure for AIDS. They have 49 projects currently on foot, many with partners from around the world. These projects cover both research and education in Australia and around the globe, including small molecule inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and HIV clinical training for doctors. I would like to acknowledge the fine work the Burnet Institute carries out for our community, both here and internationally, under the impressive stewardship of Professor Brendan Crabb.

To recognise the importance of the HIV-AIDS challenge it is appropriate to draw the parliament's attention to some very sobering statistics regarding HIV-AIDS from around the world. There are currently 35 million people worldwide living with either AIDS or the HIV virus. That is one and a half times the population of Australia currently suffering from some form of the disease. Of those 35 million people, 10 per cent are under the age of 15, meaning 3½ million children under the age of 15 currently suffer from HIV and AIDS. In 2012 there were 25,000 people living with HIV in Australia. Although this may be on the lower end of the spectrum per capita, there were 1,253 new diagnoses, which is a 10 per cent increase on the previous year. This is a worrying statistic.

The AIDS epidemic was first recognised in the 1980s and since then more than 75 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 36 million people have died of AIDS related illnesses. Globally, nearly 6,300 people contract HIV every day, or 262 every hour. In 2012, 1.6 million people died from AIDS related illnesses and in some communities HIV rates are as high as 40 per cent. Like most infectious diseases and healthcare issues, HIV and AIDS are most prevalent in Third World countries. They are especially prevalent in western and central African countries, where education and knowledge on the topic is relatively poor and where regard for women's human rights is low. This in turn leads to some concerning practices in those communities. This further highlights the need to educate people so as to prevent the spread of the disease and decrease the rate of infection.

Of course, HIV and AIDS are not limited to poorer communities and are not limited to Africa; indeed, they are big issues within our own neighbourhood and outside of Australia. There is also though a higher risk among those in the community who do not practise safe sex and drug users who share needles. What is concerning, as I previously mentioned, is that in the last year there was a 10 per cent increase in the number of diagnoses in Australia than in the previous year. This still tells us that there is a lot we need to do in terms of education in Australia around safe sex practices in particular.

Our vigilance must be matched by our continued investment in health and medical research. The coalition have a strong record when it comes to investing in research. Recently the coalition announced $559 million to fund 963 NHMRC grants in the first round of funding. We have also quarantined health and medical research funding from any future cuts and have committed to reducing red tape for researchers and medical practitioners, especially with respect to clinical trials.

Another important initiative in the fight against HIV and AIDS is the world AIDS conference. As previously mentioned, the world AIDS conference will be held in Melbourne in July 2014. This is an opportunity for over 14,000 participants from around 200 countries to meet and collaborate on future endeavours to eradicate this disease once and for all. The conference is organised by the International AIDS Society, which is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals, with over 16,000 members from more than 177 countries working at all levels of the global response to AIDS. IAS members include researchers from all disciplines, clinicians, public health and community practitioners on the front line of the epidemic as well as policy and program planners.

The conference is one of the largest medical conferences in the world. In my capacity as co-founder of the Parliamentary Friends of Women in Science, Maths and Engineering, I want to particularly highlight that the co-chairs of the conference are two of the most pre-eminent female scientists in the world: French Nobel Laureate Professor Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and our very own Professor Sharon Lewin.

Professor Barre-Sinoussi won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008. She was awarded the prize for her work in discovering HIV and her continued research, which she began in 1983. After a long and incredibly distinguished career, Professor Barre-Sinoussi will be travelling to Melbourne to co-chair the conference with Professor Sharon Lewin.

Professor Lewin is the head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Monash University and the Alfred Hospital, and co-head of the Centre for Biomedical Research at the Burnet Institute. She is one of Australia's most esteemed scientists, and I am incredibly proud to say she is also a Higgins resident.

I would like to personally congratulate these two exceptional women and all of the events coordinators for putting together what I am sure will be an incredibly professional and valuable conference. I take this opportunity to congratulate the Victorian government—the Premier, Denis Napthine, and the health minister, David Davis—for their foresight in making sure that this conference could be held in Australia and held in Melbourne.

We have come a very long way on the journey to end discrimination and to find a cure for HIV and AIDS. But there is still a very long way to go. Together, I am very confident, we will get there.

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