The Media Page of the Order of Perpetual Indulgence of the Great Southern Land.
Our
Aim: To review those activities and policies of public, statutory and private
organisations which affect the GLBTIQ community.
We are offering this media review as a service to the GBLTIQ community as part of our community building vow. N.B. O.P.I don’t endorse all the views or claims that are made in correspondence and articles printed.
Special Announcement:
PRIDE WA 2006 Poster!!!!!
Senator Louise Pratt????
It's
official, according to the West Australian Newspaper, 14 Sept 2006, ALP
Upper House Member Louise Pratt, pictured left with Kevin and David of Inclusion
WA, will nominate for the Senate. Louise Pratt has demonstrated beyond any
doubt her commitment to GLBTIQ marriage and community. If elected to the
Senate we are sure that Louise will be an effective advocate for the GLBTIQ
community at the Federal Level.
16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.
Bright Spots, Lost Chances on AIDS by Lawrence Altman.
The theme of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto last month, “Time to Deliver,” was, in part, a call for everyone responsible for AIDS work to explain what they had done and not done to achieve the goal of stopping AIDS.
Dr. Richard Horton, the editor of The Lancet, has already weighed in, saying in his journal that the conference was, “narrowly defined, a success.” But Dr. Horton was still highly critical. The organizers wasted a superb opportunity, he said, to create “a tool to chart success and to identify catalysts of change or obstacles underlying failure.”
Dr. Horton wrote: “But the opportunity to produce a roadmap to reach the 2010 target of universal access was squandered. Rarely has there been a meeting that felt so disengaged from a global predicament of such historic proportions.”
AIDS conferences should become “a global accountability mechanism to monitor country progress, to hold all parties accountable for the part they play in defeating AIDS, and to set specific measurable objectives” for discussion at future meetings, Dr. Horton wrote. He moderated one session and attended a number of others.
To many participants, a significant conference oversight was that no African leader delivered a featured talk, even though Africa is the continent most affected by AIDS.
Part
1: Lack of Privacy?
Allegations of election irregularities relating to the electoral process of the Western Australian AIDS Council (WAAC) auspiced Peer Advisory Group and National Association of HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) peak body, HAPAN, have been printed in SX Magazine in Sydney.
This is not the first time this year that allegations about 'problems' with this group's 'administrative processes' have been made. In March of this year a number of members made allegations that documents presented at a meeting were different to those sent out to members beforehand. It is a matter of public record that the recent AGM was not the first SGM or AGM held by this group this year.
A
member of HAPAN, who requested to remain anonymous, said "I've been
a member of HAPAN since it began, however, the direction it has taken in
the last year has led to a very divisive and non-transparent clicquey culture
developing that makes it an embarressment to the HIV community accross Australia.
It's hard enough living with HIV and dealing with discrimination from the
wider community. It is a shame that the only thing WAAC's HAPAN has achieved
is to divide the positive community. The latest drama clearly indicates
new elections and leadership is needed at WAAC/HAPAN".
In the interests of fairness the OPI did give WAAC the opportunity to comment on this story or to deny the allegations made in SX Magazine but did not recieve a reply to our email request. To see all the information available in the public domain about HAPAN please visit their website @ www.hapan.org.au
Part
2: WAAC/NAPWA involved in Vendetta!
The
things some people will go to for a little bit of media. HAPAN Chairperson
/ NAPWA Rep, Graham Douglas Meyer has had to state in a letter to SX Magazine
Sydney that WAAC/NAPWA are involved in a vendetta attack with a small group
of positive people in order to get his name mentioned on the OPI Website!.
Not only does Graham Douglas Meyer admit to marking envelopes in a secret AIDS Gravy Meeting (AGM) but apperently he 'stuffed them himself'.
SECRET: Meant to be kept from knowledge of others!
VENDETTA: Blood Feud: a feud between families started by the killing of a member of one family that is then avenged by a killing of a member of the other family
His detailed confession can only further embaress WAAC and NAPWA in that it categorically reveals the truth that all positive people know: The Chairperson knows the identities of the people who did not vote in the elections and thus by definition makes the term secret ballot farcical.
A member of the positive community who wished to remain anonymous said, "Speaking personally, there is no vendetta. HIV positive people are simply asking for WAAC and NAPWA to step in and address the professional failures of one individual who is riding roughshod over the right of ALL positive people to participate in the peak body in a safe non-threatening and confidential environment. If HAPAN won't provide this then who ultimately has a duty of care to protect the right of participation of ALL HIV+ people in Western Australia? HAPAN is a a clicque which is the Personal AIDS Gravy Train of the Chairperson (who does nothing other than attend conferences anyware other than WA) with a Board who actively seek to control everything that goes on and this includes who comes in the Door and the Treatments Forum was just another PRIME example of this abuse of the Chairperson's Position! The only other positive people he spoke to were those from the Roman Catholic Living Centre who sat at his table"
The Secretary of People Living with HIV/AIDS WA Inc made the following statement. "I am not at liberty to speak on behalf of PLWHA WA Inc. in regards to HAPAN and it's electoral processes. But personally if there was a vendetta then why was Trish Langdon, (CEO WAAC) seen chatting to the members of PLWHA WA Inc who attended the Treatments Forum hosted by WAAC/HAPAN. In my opinion, Trish and the WAAC staff acted very professionally by going around to every table and making sure a welcome was extended to every positive person there. A WAAC staff member, Mark Ravenscroft, was at a desk giving everyone a name badge and I know Mark from his presentations at Bears Perth Inc. He was at President Paul Hayter’s Sunday Social on Mother’s Day! Trish also said Hello to me as I was walking in the Door and she had a friendly and polite conversation with every member of our group. Mother Abbess mentioned she was shocked when she read the letter. His direct quote, speaking as Mother Gretta was "But I've always liked Trish and We've always had a cordial relationship". I don't want to name names as I am not one for gossip, but anyone who was there, including the table from the Health Department knew who the small group of people were that sat next to the buffet all night and did not go to any table of positive people. Positive People expect more from the Chairperson of NAPWA's Peak Body and while Graham is quick to tell people he is the NAPWA Rep from WA he needs to act appropriately at all times and especially in public and towards all positive people and those affect by HIV/AIDS".
The OPI wonder what NAPWA President Gabe McCarthy will say about the tone of language used and the final paragraph. If Ms McCarthy or NAPWA wish to make a statement for this website we will print it unedited as a service to ALL the HIV positive people in Western Australia who do care about human rights and equal opportunity.
Jack Hayter-Middleton, pictured below, released the following statement. "I do not wish to give dignity to gossip, however, there is truth in what is asserted in regards to the rumour that I get more media than the Chairperson of HAPAN!
Aims
and Objectives of the OPI
Expiation of stigmatic guilt (that guilt we direct at ourselves or the guilt we apply to others.
Promulgation of Universal Joy, especially among GLBTIQ people.
To be a GLBTIQ Liberation Organisation.
To help make every GLBTIQ person feel good about themselves.
To provide a public forum to for like minded gay people and gay sympathetic people to express their views and interests.
To be concerned with the physical and social environment of all in the GLBTIQ community.
To be concerned with preserving and promoting the desirable historical, social and cultural features of the GLBTIQ community.
To review those activities and policies of public, statutory and private organisations which affect the GLBTIQ community.
To support and co-operate with other organizations whose aims and objectives are compatible with those of the Order.
To represent the views and interests of the members of the Order before public, statutory and private organisations on matters which affect the Order.
To raise funds for GLBTIQ charities and in particular those relating to HIV/AIDS.
To carry out safer sex education and raise awareness about the needs of HIV+ people within the GLBTIQ Community.
To do any other lawful acts as may be incidental or conducive to the the attainment of these objects and aims of the Order.
(Adapted from OPI: Adelaide documents.)
Contact Details.
The Order of Perpetual Indulgence of the Great Southern Land (WA)
Postal Address: P.O. Box 276, Bayswater, W.A. Australia. 6933.
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