LGBTIQA+ health services
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:11): (591) My question today is to the Minister for Equality. It relates to the spread of mpox and the particularly noted surge of cases that has been seen among gay and bisexual men, men who have sex with men as well as among the LGBTQIA+ community more broadly – a really concerning spike, with 76 cases reported in the last few months, whereas for the whole of 2023 there were eight cases. The chief health officer has suggested sex bubbles or that people just lie low a bit over the colder months. While I appreciate those constructive suggestions, I am not sure if sex bubbles or winter abstinence or the like will necessarily be taken up by everyone. So could you please outline what is being done – what targeted steps are being taken – to ensure that the queer community is getting vaccinated against mpox?
The PRESIDENT: I am kind of concerned that that might be a question for the Minister for Health, but I will call the minister as far as her portfolio responsibilities go.
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:12): Thank you, Mr Puglielli, for your question and for your interest in a really significant health challenge for LGBTIQA+ communities, men who have sex with men and also people who are affected by the spread of mpox.
We have had a really consolidated and really comprehensive response in recent years. We know that that has been driven in large part by the work that has happened on the ground, including through Thorne Harbour Health and other organisations. The Department of Health is leading that work, and we are doing that work around vaccinations being provided as they are needed. Thorne Harbour Health and allied clinics are doing that support work.
To assist you, Mr Puglielli, I am very happy to seek some further information from the Minister for Health beyond the standing orders, because it has not technically been raised as a matter for her, and perhaps to provide that to you. It is a rapidly evolving and dynamic situation, as I am sure you will appreciate, so we will do some further work to get you that information.
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:13): Thank you, Minister, for that very generous response. This really just follows on in the same vein by way of supplementary. Could you outline what particular steps are being taken to ensure that the LGBTQIA+ community knows about the recent surge in cases – that evolving situation you have spoken about – and that they are receiving important health information on mpox?
Harriet SHING (Eastern Victoria – Minister for Housing, Minister for Water, Minister for Equality) (12:13): Thank you very much, Mr Puglielli, for that supplementary question. Again, I will refer the substantive elements of that question through to the Minister for Health for response. But for avoidance of any doubt, we do need to make sure that messaging is culturally safe and appropriate and that it is delivered and discussed in places and in terms which engage with LGBTIQA+ communities as well as with people who do not typically identify as members of LGBTIQA+ communities. This is something which all levels of government are working hard to make sure that we have a consolidated effort to address. It will be part of ongoing dialogue, whether that is around sexual health or whether that is indeed around the broader health concerns and questions that people might have, being able to identify symptoms and the sort of bubble issue that you have raised earlier as well. So in the substantive nature of that supplementary, I am very happy to provide you with some further detail, but again, the work around the appropriateness of messaging is something which informs the way in which the entire equality portfolio is working as well as working beyond that into mainstream government and across the community.