Abbott's Aid cuts to hit the poorest overseas, will affect HIV programs

It's obvious Abbott simply hates poor people. He's appointed Scott Morrison in his reshuffle of cabinet deck chairs from clobbering asylum seekers arriving by boat, to likely clobbering Australian welfare recipients. Fuck knows what nightmare scenario he's gonna dream up for us in the new year. At least we have the senate.

Unfortunately those who are impacted by our foreign aid programs don't have such luxury, with SSJoe (yes, believe it or not, he's still treasurer) ripping further into the foreign aid budget. These measures are going to affect HIV programs overseas in Asia particularly and impact on the poorest in the community. What a horrible mean gov this is.

AFAO executive director Rob Lake said he has written to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Commonwealth Government asking for a review of the cuts to the aid program.

Lake said AFAO operates an Australian Aid-funded program based in Bangkok, Thailand that works with affected communities in Papua New Guinea, the Pacific and major cities across south-east Asia.

“AFAO and our members work to support HIV prevention, testing, treatment access and the human rights of people with HIV, gay men, transgender people, sex workers and people who inject drugs,” Lake said.

He added that the aid program has had “made major impacts in improving health, education and the lives of some of the poorest people” in Australia’s neighbouring countries.

“These funds have saved lives and have helped to protect human rights,” Lake said. more

Look out for a possible increase in HIV (and various other STD's) amongst mining sector workers, who take holidays in Asia some of them and have unprotected sex up there, coming back and infecting their partners at home. Think I'm joking? It's a well known fact. This from the SMH:

Homosexual men still account for most new infections, but a large number of new infections are amongst heterosexual men in the country's mining rich states of Western Australia and Queensland.

Many miners work fly-in, fly-out shifts consisting of several weeks straight of work followed by a few weeks off and researchers say some are visiting Asia for their downtime.

"A small but significant number (of new infections) are among heterosexual men from the richest resource states, who are clearly taking holidays in Asia and having unprotected sex," said Don Baxter, executive director of the Australian Federation of AIDS.

Baxter said Western Australia men most likely visit Southeast Asian countries, with the state capital Perth about five hours flying time from Asia, while those in Queensland visit neighbouring Papua New Guinea, which experts say is on the verge of an African-style HIV-AIDS epidemic.

"Among heterosexual males in Western Australia there has been a 68 percent increase over the last three years. That's about the same number of heterosexual men as gay men in Western Australia to be infected in 2007," said Baxter. more

Cutting funding to HIV programs can only be bad, and it's been proven in Australia amongst states that decreased funding to HIV programs the HIV infection rate increased. 

Horrified Australian aid people have now set up a new website about it all, where you can join up and be active either physically or virtually. This a video from said site: