Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In our first week of sittings following the winter recess, I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect on a very significant international event that Australia had the privilege of hosting just last month. I am speaking of AIDS 2014, the premier international gathering that brings together renowned experts working in the HIV field around the globe, along with policy and decision makers, those who are living with the reality of HIV in their lives as well as others with an interest and commitment to ending HIV.

The conference is held every two years and is widely acknowledged by those working in HIV research and policy as the pre-eminent gathering of experts. Australia should be proud to have hosted such a prestigious event and for the opportunity to share with delegates our nation's success in the fight against HIV, which has always been a strongly community-driven effort.

The conference, held in Melbourne from 20 July to 25 July convened around 14,000 delegates, including around 1000 media representatives. I was enormously pleased to have the opportunity of attending several days of the conference to discuss Australia's efforts in this field with those from other countries and to learn from each other's stories. I did so in my capacity as chair of the Parliamentary Friends of HIV/AIDS, Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

There were presentations from renowned scientific and medical experts, policy makers and those recognised as driving forces in campaigning to end discrimination against those suffering from HIV and AIDS. There were also high-profile speakers who provided keynote addresses during the days of the conference, including former Justice of the High Court Michael Kirby, former President of the United States of America Bill Clinton and musician Sir Bob Geldof, whose commitment to improving health and lives in Africa is particularly well-understood and well-documented.

This year, of course, the conference began on a particularly sombre note. The downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was a tragedy for many nations around the world, not least our own, with the loss of 38 of our fellow Australians. This senseless tragedy also had a direct bearing on the AIDS 2014 conference. Six of those lost aboard MH17 were en route to Melbourne to participate in the conference. Among them were the World Health Organization's media officer, Glenn Thomas, as well as Dr Joep Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society who had been involved in the fight against HIV from the very beginning. His work was crucial in the development of the antiretroviral therapy that is integral to the treatment of HIV today. Dr Lange was also a key force in the development of methodologies to prevent mother-to-child transmission. His passing, and that of his partner, Dr Jacqueline van Tongeren, is an incalculable loss to the field of HIV research globally.

The opening session of the conference paid tribute to these and three other Dutch delegates who lost their lives in the tragedy. The conference proceeded inspired by the spirit of their dedication to ending the HIV epidemic around the world.

The opening plenary address given by the Hon. Michael Kirby was all at once moving, insightful, elegant and engaging. I would encourage my fellow senators to obtain a copy and read it, because there are clear messages in it for all of us. The standout message is a simple one—'We are in this together.' Just as HIV-AIDS does not discriminate between classes, races or geographic boundaries, Michael Kirby clearly articulated that not one side of politics has a monopoly on wisdom and compassion when it comes to the fight against AIDS.

Australia's initial response to AIDS—which came at a time when we knew very little about the condition and fear and panic abounded in some quarters—was forged in an atmosphere of bipartisanship. It is a credit to both major parties that they had within them people of the calibre of the then Minister for Health, Labor's Neal Blewett, and his opposition counterpart, Dr Peter Baume, who worked together to develop Australia's response, which is now widely acknowledged as being one of the more effective in our global community.

I say this particularly in an international context because, as we know, there were some countries in the 1980s, when the disease first emerged, where political parties used fear of HIV-AIDS as a political weapon. There are still countries where this is the case, and I will come that shortly. I am pleased that this approach has endured for the past three decades through governments of both political hues.

As a political conservative myself, I am particularly grateful to Michael Kirby for shining light on the fact that conservatives have played a leading role in the fight against HIV-AIDS, because it is not a point that is usually underlined in much of the commentary on the issue. But as Michael Kirby's speech pointed out, it was President George W Bush in the United States who established the PEPFAR Fund and who in retirement continues to provide leadership and promote the Global Fund that has helped save millions of vulnerable lives, especially in Africa.

As was also pointed out, a conservative, conviction politician, such as our present Prime Minister, Mr Abbott, is also well placed to talk to certain political leaders at forums, such as CHOGM or the G20, to persuade them to take real action in their own countries to abandon the politics of fear in this area. They are more likely to be persuaded by him than by their political opponents was the suggestion. Given the Prime Minister's long record of commitment to the fight against HIV-AIDS, I am sure it is an opportunity he will not overlook.

For all the progress that has been made in this country, both in the medical fight against HIV and the fight against discrimination, there remains an alarming number of countries in our world that continue to pursue policies that cause great harm to many of their citizens.

Many Australians would be shocked to learn that around four out of every five countries who are members of the Commonwealth, which itself accounts for 30 per cent of the world's population, still view homosexuality as a criminal offence. The Commonwealth comprises 53 nations. Of these, 42 continue to criminalise homosexuality. Tomorrow, 29 August, is Wear It Purple Day, which is an opportunity to show support for young LGBTI people in the fight against bullying and discrimination by wearing an article of purple clothing. I hope that in doing that we can also pause for a moment to think about these issues in a global context, because, while the fight to eliminate bullying and discrimination in our own country goes on, the global fight is a much bigger and more daunting challenge. To illustrate that point, it is helpful to consider Commonwealth countries by region. In Africa, 16 Commonwealth countries criminalise homosexuality. In the Americas, it is 11 countries. The situation is dire in Asia, where every member country of the Commonwealth, eight in total, continues to punish homosexuality. Even in our own Pacific region, only four nations—ourselves, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu—have decriminalised homosexuality. The other seven Commonwealth nations in our region continue to have anti-homosexuality statutes on their books.

While these laws are often not enforced in Pacific nations, especially in the manner in which they are in Africa and the Americas, that is of no comfort. The continued existence of these laws inhibits progress towards genuine equality, such as the introduction of anti-discrimination laws. Even if they exist in name only, these discriminatory laws nonetheless need to be removed. As some commentators have noted, it is richly ironic that the existence of these laws in many Commonwealth countries is not because of something indigenous to their cultures but through the import of British laws criminalising homosexuality that existed in the past but no longer exist. Likewise, there are religious influences at play in some of these countries. But, again, in many cases these are influences imported from Europe, which is now the only region among Commonwealth countries that is entirely free of laws that criminalise homosexuality. For those who are interested, I encourage you to read an excellent survey of this issue by Paula Gerber: 'Living a life of crime: the ongoing criminalisation of homosexuality within the Commonwealth'.

Australia has always been influential in Commonwealth affairs. We took a leading role in the Commonwealth's fight against apartheid in South Africa. We took a leading role in the fight against the atrocities and injustices of Mugabe's Zimbabwe during John Howard's time in office. The fight to rid Commonwealth nations of laws that discriminate against their LGBTI citizens, like those battles of the past, is ultimately a fight for equality, and it is one where Australia can and must again play a leading role. I am confident that this effort is one that will enjoy the support of all Australians. This nation's enlightened approach to fighting both discrimination and the scourge of HIV/AIDS and our geographic proximity to some of the worst perpetrators of discrimination should see us taking a leading role.