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March 28, 2002On this day, Catholic Social Services Victoria (CSSV) declared that the provision of supported accommodation (such as that provided by San Michel and Rosehaven) required "more than ever, a long term commitment and that CSSV believed it to be " an area of care to which we (CSSV) ought to be particularly committed" and that CSSV would continue "to encourage significant involvement." The Australian AIDS Fund, like Victoria's positive people, are looking forward to seeing some indication of that in the not too distant future.It is an objective we intend to pursue with our interest in the provision of such unique and specific supported accommodation in the Melbourne area. July 27, 2002The new AAFI Board has approved funding to Straight Arrows,a well-respected and regarded AIDS-care organisation in Melbourne to co-ordinate the November 2002 residential Camp Seaside respite program; The new Board has also gifted the specially commissioned and produced stained glass artworks promoting World AIDS Day (Dec 1) that had been displayed at the AAFI/San Michel site to the Catholic AIDS Ministry in Melbourne which is installing it at its new East Melbourne HQ. July 27, 2002Brian Haill, the Victorian journalist founder of the non profit AIDS - care charity -The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated - is back at the helm of the organisation following a 15 month break which saw the closure of its two vital supported accommodation facilities, San Michel and Rosehaven. Through a combination of insufficient support and a lot of half - heartedness on many that the AAFI thought it could rely upon and in the face of a government funded viability review that endorsed both the value of the facilities and the need for them to be kept going. The two facilities were closed down without consulting with or obtaining the necessary consent of the AAFI membership, that action effectively pre-empted the outcome of a Special Resolution to wind up the organisation which wasn't put to a Special General Meeting of the membership until as recently as July 10th and which was there and then firmly voted down by the membership. Brian Haill was elected unopposed as the President of a new Board of Management of The Australian AIDS Fund Inc at its Melbourne Annual General Meeting today, July 27, 2002. For new visitors to this website,let's offer you a background brief on what The Australian AIDS Fund Inc (hereafter referred to as AAFI) provided over the years since Brian Haill set it up in the mid 1980's.
The AAFI was and intends to remain a vigorous and vocal critic of the grossly disproportionate government funding program in Victoria that sees only a fraction of funding directed to the at-the-coalface agencies, such as the AAFI, and other smaller agencies while millions of dollars are poured into organisations that offer little or none of these programs and simply keep growing as burgeoning bureaucracies. Victoria is the only Australian State in which the HIV/AIDS care funding (beyond hospital care) is so politically-driven by people who have little or no regard for the real needs of positive people and, for that matter, of that other fast growing vulnerable group in our community, those with Hepatitis C, people who are being infected at the rate of over 11,000 a year in Australia - more than 20 times the annual HIV infection rate! The quite un-necessary closure, of the San Michel facility is a real tragedy for Melbourne, especially having regard to the Franciscan Friars whose generosity not only allowed for its expansion but also provided it to the AAFI for a negligible rental, and were prepared to continue doing that. The loss of Rosehaven, equally, is a significant loss for positive women and their children. Those who were ideally placed to support it and then turned away to suit other agendas have much to answer for in this regard. Certainly they have no measurable regard for positive women. Their priorities are more self-centred. By arrangement with AIDS Information Services, another non govt funded agency, The Australian AIDS Fund Inc will be given space on this website - www.aids.net.au - to carry its news and its views. Importantly, the AAFI was an agency member of Catholic Social services Victoria (CSSV). CSSV has had a ringside seat to the events of the past 15 months that led to the closures of both San Michel and Rosehaven. I have to publicly register my very deep disappointment that it neglected the opportunity to preserve and maintain these vital and ideally located properties and their infrastructures. It is both sad and foolish to set about re-inventing the wheel which is the course that CSSV has adopted. I do expect it to stand by its written commitment to me in regard to the provision of replacement supported accommodation services. So will Victoria's positive people. It is for that reason that I have decided to release details of that correspondence so that it may now not only appear on the public record but remain there until its fulfillment. It is a commitment that must be kept. That written commitment was issued to me, Brian Haill, by Fr Joe Caddy, Director Policy and Advocacy, Catholic Social Services Victoria, and written on behalf of the Very Rev Kevin Mogg, the Episcopal Vicar for Social Services for the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne. As you know, people with HIV and AIDS are thankfully now living longer and healthier lives. Thus people with HIV and AIDS require more than ever a long term commitment to supported accommodation in the community along with a range of other social services. The existing programs of the AAFI were not equipped to offer those levels of services. Unfortunately, inadequate reserves, funding and occupancy levels meant that it was not possible to develop the programs to the extent required to meet the comprehensive needs of clients. With regard to the future involvement of the Catholic sector in residential services for people with HIV and AIDS, there are a number of existing agencies that have expressed interest in being involved in the development of comprehensive services to address the needs of this particularly vulnerable group. CSSV believes it is an area of care to which we ought to be particularly committed. Through the network of Catholic welfare organisations, CSSV will continue to encourage significant involvement. Catholic Social Services Victoria will maintain its relationship with the Department of Human Services and seek to help shape the future development of service models and provision for people with HIV and AIDS. It's just a dreadful shame that CSSV dropped the ball and let 15 years of effort and infrastructure slide through its fingers, especially with one 9 bedroomed facility in a superb locality costing less than $250 per week and the women's facility, Rosehaven, remodelled and furnished and equipped by AAFI and provided RENT FREE should just be let go! Hence my remarks about re-inventing the wheel. The Australian AIDS Fund Inc expects CSSV to move beyond the written to the practical and demonstrate in real terms its expressions of compassion. At my invitation, the Catholic Education Office has continued our Schools AIDS Day initiative again this year (July 18), and thank you Fr Barry Moran and CBC and all of the participating schools and we're hoping they'll continue that. We'll also see what else can be salvaged, after all we started with nothing 15 years ago and 10 of those years were without a cent of govt funding San Michel and RosehavenBetween 1986 and 2001, The Australian AIDS Fund Incorporated provided pacesetter supportive accommodation services in some 8 properties across the Melbourne metropolitan area, relying on its own initiative and fundraising for some 10 years before winning token annual financing from Victoria's Department of Human Services for its specialised San Michel and Rosehaven facilities. Rosehaven was Australia's first such facility for women and children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.Its un-necessary closure was a severe loss to Victoria's HIV infected community. These two facilities were closed in 2001 due to selfish and spiteful behaviour on the part of a number of individuals and agencies to meet personal and political agendas; and State bureaucratic inertia in the face of political pressures that had created a referrals boycott to which the Department of Human Services turned a deliberate blind eye. Catholic Social Services Victoria undertook to replace these facilities but is yet to make good that commitment. Supported AccommodationWe continue our efforts in regard to the promised restoration of the supportive accommodation services provided by the San Michel and Rosehaven services. We are still awaiting further word from Catholic Social Services Victoria in regard to its undertakings. We can say, however, that in addition to the specific CSSV assurances already outlined here, that we've already published, there were other heartening indications. We can reveal previously unpublished information, as follows:
Support for CSSVThere should be no lack of support for CSSV in its bid to restore the services. CSSV needs to offer agencies the opportunity to demontrate their bona fides. Even ahead of the previous Board's totally unjustified closure of the facilities, a number of agencies went on record to deplore their loss, despite the efforts of individuals who worked vigorously and maliciously behind the scenes to close down the services to suit personal political agendas. The evidence of support can be seen in the following extracts taken from a letter sent to the Manager of the Public Health Division of the Department of Human Services dated May 15, 2001 and copied to then Health Minister Thwaites and the head of his Ministerial Advisory Committee (and VicHealth chief), Dr Rob Moodie. (Such is the secrecy in the sector, we had to obtain this letter through the Freedom of Information processes.)We the undersigned, representing a range of agencies that work within the HIV/AIDS sector share a common concern regarding the closure of Rosehaven in particular. The Ministerial Advisory Committee is of the clear view that the loss of the Rosehaven service would be a disaster for the sector and positive women and children. There are no alternative services providing residential support and respite for many HIV positive women and children in need. The agency signatories were: The AIDS Housing Action Group As The Australian AIDS Fund has said so many times previously, the Fairfield House facility at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital is a fine facility but it is not, nor will it ever, be a substitute for the "at home" style services provided for years by San Michel and Rosehaven. Fairfield House is a place of last resort, not first choice and that's understandable because its a medical component in a medical environment, in a hospital setting. Those who hold undue political sway over the fortunes of Victoria's positive people, as well as many of the smaller agencies, wanted to seize control of the San Michel and Rosehaven facilities, and when they failed they turned their efforts to closing them down. A referrals boycott was initiated on a host of groundless claims and although the Department of Human Services knew this, it turned a blind eye. The effect was to stifle the lifeblood income of the AAFI. Catholic Social Services Victoria was also well aware of this. A DHS funded viability study of the AAFI and its services although rejected by the new Board as a very flawed and shallow document did note that agencies in the HIV/AIDS sector - confused ownership with participation. Government Funding - A perspectiveTo get the government funding into perspective, consider:
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