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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-04-29 Daily Xml
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CHAN, MR J.C.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Health. Why was John Choul Chan not detained by the Department of Health after he had breached three public health orders, that is, directions by the department? John Choul Chan has now been charged with five counts of acts to endanger life. It is alleged that Mr Chan ignored three different department of public health orders by allegedly having unprotected sex with five women. Under the Public and Environmental Health Act, the department has the power to detain people who breach orders imposed. The government has already announced guidelines that it claims to have put in place after the Stuart McDonald scandal.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:03): The issue of persons who have HIV/AIDS who maintain sexual activity, sometimes without letting their partners know and sometimes out of the malicious intention to cause damage, is a very difficult one for the health system and the court system to manage. Every person who has HIV/AIDS cannot be locked up. I am not talking about this particular case; I am trying to generalise. Sometimes people with HIV/AIDS, of course, are not necessarily very bright or very clean in their behaviour, and it creates incredible management issues for our health system and for our legal systems to manage these people in the community. Just because someone has HIV/AIDS and they are not very bright you do not want to have them subject to being locked up.

I am aware of this particular case in a general sense, but I am not aware of the particulars in relation to the regime that was put in place for him. I am happy to get a specific answer for the honourable member and inform her in due course.

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