Media Release, 09 January 2012 from the National LGBTI Health Alliance
“2011 was a significant year for the National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Health Alliance”, said Paul Martin, Chair of the Alliance Board. “Considerable progress was made in priority areas that had been worked on for some time. In the short space of a year, the Alliance has grown from three part-time positions to 5 full-time and one part-time position, and has become involved in many new areas of health promotion for LGBTI Australians”, Martin said.
The Alliance was established in 2007 by a number of community-based organisations from across Australia with an HIV/AIDS focus. They saw the need for a national organisation to work more broadly across LGBTI health issues, rather than focusing specifically on HIV. In 2011 the foundational work of the Alliance bore fruit with funding secured for several important projects and Alliance involvement in a number of Commonwealth initiatives. In brief:
- MindOUT! the first national LGBTI mental health and suicide prevention project in Australia. The Department of Health and Ageing provided $1.1 million for a two-year project to establish a knowledge base and sustainable structures that will facilitate LGBTI inclusion in the development and delivery of programs, policies and research. With two staff positions the project will be rolling out several initiatives over the next 18 months, working with both LGBTI organisations and mainstream mental health and suicide prevention organisations. The Alliance Mental Health Working Group, with representatives from around Australia, provides knowledge, skills and experience to support the project.
- A funding boost for the work of the Alliance has increased the Membership and Information Services officer to a full-time position, and provided a new full-time Health Policy Officer, who is focusing mainly on LGBTI Ageing and Diverse Sex and Gender.
- The Alliance was involved in helping to support the first event of the Parliamentary Friends of LGBTI group in Canberra. The group is co-sponsored by Warren Entsch (Lib, Qld), Graham Perrett (ALP, Qld), and Greens Senator Sarah Hansen-Young. The inaugural function was held in the Mural Hall in Parliament House, with Olympic Gold Medallist Matthew Mitcham and Alliance Board Member Peter Hyndal among the speakers, and with many MPs and Senators from all the parties attending. Further activities are planned for 2012.
- The National LGBTI Ageing Roundtable in October, organised by the Alliance and ACON and funded by the Department of Health and Ageing, brought together people from around the country with an interest in LGBTI Ageing. The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, The Hon Mark Butler, spent two hours in dialogue with the group, and has since invited the Alliance to propose a representative to the DoHA Ageing Consultative Committee. A new Alliance Ageing Working Group is also forming as a result of the Roundtable, with 20 Alliance members sending in an Expression of Interest.
- The Alliance was also invited to propose members for an LGBTI Working Group for the Department of Human Services. Then-Minister Tanya Plibersek attended the group’s first meeting in December. The Department is looking to improve its service delivery to LGBTI Australians. The Working Group is asking for case studies of LGBTI people’s interactions with the Department and its Agencies (such as Centrelink and Medicare); details of existing LGBTI-sensitivity training to inform the ongoing training of the Department’s 40,000 staff, and suggestions about the kind of terminology to include in Departmental forms that will help LGBTI people feel sufficiently safe and respected to reveal their sexuality and or sex and gender identity.
“None of these achievements would have been possible without the continual input and support of our Members, through serving on the Board and various Working Groups, and helping with research and submissions”, Martin said. “We look forward to building on these achievements in the year ahead,” he added.
Media Contact:
Paul Martin, Chair, 0407 376 540, (07) 3017 1791
Warren Talbot, General Manager, (02) 8568 1120, 0437 876 824.
