HIV Prevention

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:16): Thank you, Mr Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister for Health. Minister, how is the state government working to create a state with zero new HIV infections by 2020?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:16): I thank the member for Ashford for the question. She has a great record of advocacy on behalf of people affected by HIV. World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year. It is a day for people to show support for people living with HIV and to remember people who have died from the virus. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness of HIV, to take action to reduce the transmission, and to ensure that people living with HIV can participate in the community free from stigma and discrimination.

South Australia continues to invest in primary and secondary HIV prevention, testing, treatment, care and support. The government is working in partnership with many non-government organisations, including Relationships Australia, Centacare, the Royal District Nursing Service, and the Scarlet Alliance. Together, they provide services across the many groups in our community who are at risk of HIV and blood-borne virus infection.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the new collaboration between SHine SA and the Victorian AIDS Council: the South Australia Mobilisation + Empowerment for Sexual Health (SAMESH). SAMESH have hit the ground running with HIV and STI prevention campaigns, and a counselling service is underway. Soon, they will be part of South Australia's first HIV rapid testing pilot.

The main goal of Australia's Seventh National HIV Strategy 2014-17 is to work towards achieving the virtual elimination of HIV transmission in Australia by 2020. To make progress on this ambitious goal, South Australia is prioritising access to voluntary testing, linking people to care and enabling newly diagnosed people to commence treatment as soon as possible. SAMESH are active in their cause for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to be made available in Australia. When tested overseas, PrEP has been found to be 90 per cent effective in protecting some at-risk communities from contracting HIV.

The federal government's Therapeutic Drugs Administration is currently reviewing PrEP, and while it is important that a thorough risk and safety assessment is undertaken, should it be found to be beneficial and safe, PrEP should be made available in Australia as soon as possible to people at high risk of HIV infection as it will go a long way towards helping us achieve our aim of zero new infections.

Can I take this opportunity to not only support those in our community who live with HIV and AIDS, and to commemorate those who have died, but also pay tribute to those who work in our community to care for those people living with HIV and AIDS. Together, through meaningful partnership with the communities most at risk of HIV infection, we can all achieve our collective aim: the elimination of HIV transmission in Australia by 2020.

The SPEAKER: For the benefit of the member for Stuart, standing order 97 reads:

In putting any such question, a Member may not offer argument or opinion, nor may a Member offer any facts except by leave of the House and only so far as is necessary to explain the question.

When I became Speaker I had a meeting with the leader and I expressed the view that a good question was a quick question and, generally, explanations disappeared. What the member for Stuart is doing is trying to offer facts without seeking leave to make an explanation. That is the problem. The problem is not whether they are at the front or the back, the problem is that the member for Stuart hasn't sought leave to make an explanation.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader interjects, 'Go back to explanations.' You can but I remember, as minister, explanations were so long that I had time to get on the phone to my chief of staff and find out the answer before the explanation finished, but if you want to go that way, if the opposition wants to go that way, it is a matter for the opposition, but they will do it in accordance with standing orders. The member for Stuart.