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Truth WatchHealthy Communities has established the ‘Truth Watch’ page to respond to the ongoing misinformation about Healthy Communities being spread by Minister Springborg and printed in QNews. On this page we will respond to any allegations honestly and wherever possible provide documentary evidence to back up our position. If you hear of any allegations against us or perhaps have a question of your own about how Healthy Communities operates, please do not hesitate to get in contact – Paul R Martin (Executive Director) pmartin@qahc.org.au or Joanne Leamy (President) jleamy@qahc.org.au As a community owned, not-for-profit organisation we believe in transparency, accountability, honesty and evidenced based practice.
Correcting the Record – Q News Issue 317 The January 25th 2013 edition of Q News makes a Increase in ‘Unprotected Sex’ – In response to the Q News “Smear” – It is true that Healthy Communities Meeting with Q News – The Healthy Communities Board HIV
Updates 24th October 2012 HIV Reduces in Queensland - Figures released by the Kirby Institute show that HIV decreased by 8.3% in Queensland in 2011, while increasing by 8.2% nationally. HIV rates in Queensland are lower than both NSW and Victoria. This downward trend seems to be continuing into 2012 according to Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young.
CMC has No Jurisdiction over Healthy Communities - in Q News editon 299 (see bottom of page) it was alleged falsely that Healthy Communities had breached Queensland Health policy by placing adverts in papers that were not predominantely distributed in Queensland and that "just one complaint to the CMC could see them liable to serious repercussions". We have now received written confirmation from the Crime and Misconduct Commission that Healthy Communities "would not appear to be an entity within the jurisdiction of the CMC".
Allegations against Ray Mackereth - www.thestirrer.com.au published allegations about Mr Mackereth's possible involvement in the defunding of Healthy Communities, questioning whether Mr Mackereth was invoved or just told people he was.
Ray Mackereth Denies Allegations - Mr Mackereth strongly denies the allegations made in The Stirrer article.
Healthy Communities Responds - Several people from the community have contacted us over the past few months with claims that Mr Mackereth had disclosed to them that he had a role in the defunding of Healthy Communities. We have no direct knowledge of the truth or otherwise of these allegations and welcome this issue being brought into the light and Mr Mackereth's response. In the response Mr Mackereth states correctly that Q News sought a meeting with Executive Director Paul Martin following the defunding. As you can imagine we were in crises mode. Paul asked for Q News' questions to be emailed through so that he could respond to them in writing and then chat to the editor afterwards if needed. Thirteen questions were sent through to Healthy Communities at 10:01 am on Monday 28th May and were responded to in writing at 1:11pm that same day. Given that the then current edition of Q News 299 printed a false accusation that Healthy Communities had breached Queensland Health policy in placing adverts in papers not predominately distributed in Queenland, we felt it important to answer Q News' questions in writing. The answers were 'mostly cut and pasted' because our answers on the defunding are the same whether we are talking to Q News, The Courier Mail or the ABC. In the past few weeks Q News offered to meet with Healthy Communities (Board and/or ED). Healthy Commmunities accepted this offer of a meeting on the proviso that written responses to our emails of 11 Sept re: false claims about Healthy Communities made in Q News editions 306 and 307 were received. As of today (24th Oct) we have not received a written response, so the meeting with Q News is yet to happen. Over the years Q News has supported many Healthy Communities projects with discounted advertising, sponsorship of events and free advertorial space. Healthy Communities had continued to send media releases on a variety of our programs and projects, including HIV prevention, to Q News for inclusion. --End--
General Misinformation Assertion - HIV infection figures have doubled from 2.7 per 100,000 in 2000 to 5.4 per 100,000 in 2010.Truth – Queensland Health’s own HIV data report shows that the rate of new HIV diagnosis in Queensland in 2010 was 4.5 (not 5.4). This has since reduced to 4.3 in 2011. HIV infections rates are on the increase in most other countries across the world.
http://www.health.qld.gov.au/sexhealth/documents/2011_hiv_report_sm.pdf
Assertion – Healthy Communities was responsible for HIV prevention services in Queensland. Truth – Queensland Health and the Queensland Government were responsible for HIV prevention in Queensland, through the Queensland HIV, Hepatitis C and Sexual Transmissible Infections Strategy 2005-2011. Queensland Health purchased HIV prevention services for gay/msm from Healthy Communities (and previous to that Queensland AIDS Council), and from other NGOs for other at-risk communities. Queensland Health, through the Communicable Diseases Branch, 16 sexual health clinics and sexual health co-ordinator positions in the districts had responsibility for general community awareness and prevention.
Assertion – Healthy Communities has lost its focus. Truth – Healthy Communities is focused on the health and wellbeing of the LGBT community. It’s what is in our constitution, in our strategic plan and in the range of services we deliver. HIV is one of the issues facing mainly gay/bisexual men, but it is not the only health issue facing the LGBT community e.g. mental health & suicide, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, relationships, violence, women’s health issues, trans health issues. These issues are often interconnected, so addressing them in a holistic way is most effective.
Assertion – Advocacy does not achieve health outcomes. Truth – Advocacy for legislative reform has been an important tool for health promoters and health professionals since the mid 1850s in improving the health and wellbeing of populations. Most major improvements in health were brought about by health organisations advocating for change – clean air, clean water, smoking restrictions, introduction of seat belts, reducing overcrowding in accommodation, harmful chemicals (e.g. DDT), child labour etc. While less than 5% of the services purchased from us by Queensland Health as part of our HIV prevention work could be considered advocacy, they were nonetheless important. When LGBT people are not treated equally by the law, our health suffers. As a health organisation we have a responsibility to identify issues affecting the health of our communities and advocate for change. This is recognised in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986), the core international framework for improving the health of populations.
http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/
612 ABC Brisbane - Drive with Tim Cox – 12 Sept 2012 ‘HIV/AIDS Ministerial Advisory Committee member resigns’
Truth – Healthy Communities was and is focused on the health and wellbeing of the LGBT community. This has been our focus since 2005, when the membership decided to broaden our remit to address other health issues facing LGBT people, in addition to HIV e.g. mental health & suicide, alcohol, tobacco & other drugs, relationships, women’s health. Like many community organisations, whether geographical (local community/neighbourhood centres) or communities of interest (e.g. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander, Culturally and Linguistically Diverse), we take a holistic approach to the health of our population group, LGBT people, and deliver a range of services to address a range of interrelated needs.
Truth – Healthy Communities produced a 4 page document outlining the key commitments on LGBT health & wellbeing that we were seeking from the main political parties in the election. Together with other HIV NGOs we also produced a separate 4 page document on the key commitments on HIV that we were seeking. We produced separate HIV and LGBT documents to ensure a focus on HIV and to present a united approach from the HIV NGOs. We also turned the LGBT document into an election survey. The 22 page document he refers to is Labour’s response to the survey. He doesn’t mention that the LNP also responded. Following the election and his appointment to the health ministry (remember he wasn’t the shadow Health Minister) we updated the HIV document, with 29 recommendations for revitalising HIV services in Queensland and sent it to him, requesting a meeting.
QNews – Issue 307 – Sept 07 2012 Page 7 ‘HIV Returns to TV’ “QAHC representatives have labelled the ad as “rubbish” and a “missed opportunity””. “Senior government officials say they are disappointed with QAHC’s response...”. Healthy Communities Response: Healthy Communities never called the advert rubbish. We did issue a media release welcoming the campaign, but saying the advert was a missed opportunity to inform the general public about the realities of HIV in 2012.
On 11 Sept we asked QNews to substantiate their claim that Healthy Communities called the advert rubbish. We have not received a response.
QNews – Issue 306 – Aug 24 2012 Page 20 feature article ‘Springborg is Damned is he does and damned if he doesn’t!’ “Mr Springborg’s reasoning [for removing funds from Healthy Communities] was that HIV money provided by his department was being used to fund many of the alternative community programs instead of being used for HIV prevention.” “QNews approached other Queensland HIV organisations...we were unable to find an organisation that would come out to support QAHC’s use of HIV funds for their other community work.” Healthy Communities response Healthy Communities has only ever used our HIV prevention funding for activities approved by Queensland Health, which contribute to HIV, STI and Hep C prevention among gay and other men who have sex with men. In the past 8 years (under the new tender process for HIV services) Queensland Health has never raised questions with Healthy Communities about the (mis)use of the HIV funding provided to us. In fact over this time Queensland Health extended and renewed our funding contract several times, and increased the amount of money provided to our HIV prevention program. Why would they have done so if there were questions about the proper us of the money? Healthy Communities received funding from Queensland Health following an open, public tender process in 2003/04. We had a service agreement with Queensland Health under a purchaser provider model, for our HIV, STI & Hep C prevention program and a separate agreement for our LGBT training & development project (previously called LGBT Health systems). Both service agreements were multi-year, and outlined the services Healthy Communities was to deliver for Queensland Health.
Each year, Healthy Communities submitted an annual ‘operation plan’ and budget to Queensland Health for their approval, detailing the activities we would undertake in that year. We then provided written reports against this operational plan twice a year, plus face-to-face meetings with Queensland Health officials several times a year. We provided financial reporting 4 times a year, plus an annual audited finance report.
Like many organisations, Healthy Communities receives funding from multiple sources for multiple services. Each service has its own ‘project’ in our financial accounting systems. Money from different sources and for different purposes is kept separate in our accounting system and reported to the body that funded it. Queensland Health also funded Healthy Communities for an LGBT alcohol, tobacco and other drugs health promotion project, with a service agreement outlining the services to be delivered and a more detail operational plan submitted to Queensland Health an reported on.
On Sept 11 we asked QNews to substantiate the claim we had missed HIV prevention funding. We have not had a response.
Sunday Mail - Sunday 20 May – Minister Springborg announced withdrawal of all Queensland Health funding from Healthy Communities
QNews – Issue 299 – 18 May 2012 Page 19 – feature – ‘Our Own Gay State of Origin’ “A senior Queensland bureaucrat also pointed out that Queensland organisations funded by the Queensland Government could be in breach of state policy if they spent government funds in magazines that were not distributed predominantly in Queensland unless they were targeting areas such as tourism, and that just one complaint to the CMC could see them liable to serious repercussions.” Healthy Communities Response Healthy Communities has confirmed in writing with Queensland Health that there is no restriction on funded non-government organisations advertising in national publications that are distributed in Queensland. We have also confirmed in writing from the Star Observer that “As part of the company's philosophy on pricing, community organisations receive substantial discounts in general and in the case of state based health organisations, further adjustments to meet the variations in distributed numbers and readership in the respective markets even though readership is nation wide.” This means we pay less for adverts in the Star Observer than would NSW or VIC agencies, because the distribution is lower in Queensland. |