The Queensland AIDS Council (QuAC) says it will no longer be able to provide support services to people with HIV, after a decision by the state government to award a multi-million dollar HIV care and support contract to a religious organisation.
The contract, worth $1 million a year over three years, was awarded to St Luke’s Nursing Service, a community nursing organisation allied with the Anglican church. The contract represented a substantial amount of QuAC’s government funding, and the organisation says the decision will result in the closure of QuAC’s four regional offices and the retrenchment of as many as 20 staff.
"After 19 years, the Queensland AIDS Council will cease providing care and support services to Queenslanders living with HIV/AIDS from 30 September 2004,” the organisation said in a statement.
The move follows a radical shift in the Queensland government’s approach to funding HIV programs, with competitive tenders replacing grants. QuAC successfully tendered for a contract to provide HIV education programs, worth $3.3 million over three years, and for a small one-year pilot program for gay and lesbian health, worth $100,000.
But the decision to award the care and support programs to St Luke’s, a community nursing organisation which has operated in Queensland for more than a century, has generated widespread anger and disquiet in the HIV community.
"At a time when antiretroviral treatments are being effective for the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS, we should be looking at programs of wellness and community re-engagement,” QuAC’s acting general manager Steven Brown told the Brisbane Courier-Mail. “This is a backward step,” he warned.
Amid mounting anger over the decision, more than 100 people joined a protest rally outside Parliament House in Brisbane in July.
As part of the tender award, St Luke’s was directed to subcontract “social support” functions to QuAC, at a cost of $448,000 per year. But QuAC announced in late August that it would reject that offer, which it said was “entirely inadequate to meet the needs of PLWHA” and would still result in the closure of the organisation’s regional offices.
"Social support is the bulk of the work that needs to be done. The offer represents a reduction of 55 percent on our current funding, when the needs require an increase in this area of operation. Realistically, the offer would allow QuAC to coordinate volunteer services but offer little other direct service provision,” the organisation said.
