MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – The leader of Australia’s most densely-populated state is under fire for his plans to form an advisory panel to focus on LGBT issues.
Ted Baillieu, Premier of Victoria, has promised to appoint members of the southwestern Australian region’s LGBT community to advise senior government ministers on matters including HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, bullying, gay teen suicide, and an aging gay population.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (GLBTI) Health and Wellbeing Committee—which will be appointed by Victoria Minister of Health David Davis and Minister of Mental Health, Women’s Affairs, and Community Services—has received wide praise from LGBT rights groups and others, but some conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) say that such a body is unnecessary and an overreaction to a problem that doesn’t exist.
“I don’t see what used to be known as ‘poofter-bashing’ happening, and I don’t see overt discrimination,” one senior MP told The Sunday Age newspaper. “It’s unnecessary.
You don’t need a committee for everything.” “Poofter” is a negative colloquialism used to describe homosexuals in the United Kingdom and other places with close cultural ties to the U.K., including Australia.
Experts on Australian politics say that the idea of a ministerial-level advisory committee was advocated by both of the state’s major political parties prior to 2010 state elections, as each side attempted to net progressive voters in the urban areas, including Melbourne, the state capital.
Minister of Health Davis applauded the plans for the GLBTI Committee, saying it will give gay rights advocates direct access to government officials and to shaping policies. He also told reporters that the government is considering “different testing approaches” to HIV – including “rapid testing,” which enables individuals to receive HIV test results within minutes, rather than weeks as is currently the case.
Public health experts say that the island nation’s HIV-screening methods are behind those employed by the rest of the industrialized world. “We’re aware of some of the international approaches,” remarked Davis, “and this would be a useful point for the ministerial advisory committee to give some direct advice on.”
“A Melbournian must wait up to two weeks for their HIV result, while a Londoner or a San Franciscan waits 20 minutes,” agreed Victorian AIDS Council executive director Matt Dixon. “Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world regarding this.”