ANNUAL REPORT 2022

Craig A Brennan, President.

As 2021 came to a close, Living Positive Victoria had weathered the worst of the pandemic and was moving forward in constructive ways. At the same time, the new board was facing multiple challenges. With few directors returning from the previous term, we were at the limits of achieving quorum and unprepared for the loss of institutional knowledge. It was clear that something needed changing.

Our priority was to fill the open positions. The board immediately reached towards the community and called for additional nominations. By the end of January three exceptional community members (Sarah Hocking, Eric Glare and Jessi Ryan) stepped forward to join the board. I am grateful to each of them.

Today, I’m pleased to report that we have a board that is diverse in age, gender and sexual identity. With this board’s renewed focus on community engagement, building capacity and providing opportunity, we have the means to improve representation further.

Across 2022 the board has focused on rebuilding, reflection and looking forward.

Competencies

With our board complete, we undertook a skills assessment and identified two high priority gaps: not-for-profit governance and financial literacy.

Taking direction from sentiments expressed at the 2021 AGM, the board decided on an approach of up-skilling and growing capability in our communities and preserved our associate director positions.

We partnered with The Australian Institute of Company Directors to deliver core governance and financial literacy training for the board and senior staff of LPV. This training has allowed us to have a common language and a common understanding of our roles across the board and management team and within the board, a much greater appreciation of our responsibilities as directors. As we’ve rebuilt this year, I’m happy to say we enjoy a collaborative and highly productive working relationship across Living Positive Victoria’s governance structures.

Our vision is that this foundational training will become part of the induction of all new directors. To accomplish this, we are exploring training partnership models with NAPWHA and our sibling advocacy organisations to spread cost and share expertise.

Multicultural Working Group

At the end of 2021, our Multicultural Working Group needed attention. With the two directors who had been leading this area retiring from the board the group came to a standstill. As we rebuilt the working group, we put structures in place to ensure the work of the group could continue without reliance on specific individuals. This has included ensuring the Terms of Reference for the group were developed directly by the community members engaged, building community member capability to take up leadership roles and embedding representation from the operations team to ensure continuity.

Under Sarah Hocking’s leadership, we have completed the necessary restructuring and have tripled the number of community members engaged in the working group. Thank you, Sarah and all the members of this working group – it’s an extraordinary accomplishment in such a short period of time.

Reflection

Reflecting on the outcomes of the 2021 AGM and coming out of the era of lockdowns the board recognised a need to deepen our community engagement. With over 60% of the board turning over, our first step has been to take time to introduce ourselves to the membership.

To accomplish this, over the course of 2022 each of our new board members has been profiled in Poslink Express, giving insight into our backgrounds, what drew us to the board and our hopes for the future.

We have actively participated in LPV workshops, such as Positive Reflections and attended broader community events such as Planet Positive and community-specific events such as the heterosexual men’s event. Almost half the board engaged in the launch of Well Beyond 50, and I have greatly appreciated the opportunity I had to deepen community connection by attending the Joint HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health Conference 2022 along with the CEO and other members of team LPV.

Our goal, as a board, was to meet as many clients, members and stakeholders as possible, to be present and visible but most importantly, to listen.

Celebrating Straight Arrows

Six years ago, at a joint AGM of Straight Arrows and Living Positive Victoria, members voted unanimously to support a merger of the organisations.

This year we celebrate and reflect on six years of working together to improve the lives of all PLHIV. Over this time, the number of heterosexual members has increased by 260. Whether through the growth of our peer navigation programs or connection though specific and broad community events, by all measures the merger has been a success.

These results didn’t just happen, I’d like to thank and draw particular attention to our Vice President: Jefferey Robertson, who leaves our board at the 2022 AGM. Jeffrey was instrumental in getting Straight Arrows members with reservations over the line and continued to champion the merger as a member of Living Positive Victoria’s board.

Jeffrey has a proud history of advocacy and inclusion and I hope we continue to benefit from his engagement and wisdom into the future.

On a personal note, thank you Jeffrey for all the support you’ve shown me this year. It’s been very helpful to know you’ve been there with background and context whenever I’ve needed it. Your commitment to the organisation is much admired.

Looking Forward

During the events surrounding World AIDS Day 2022, we will launch our next Strategic Plan. Building on the foundations we’ve been laying, this has been the core work of the board for the last term. Our underlying principle during the development of the Strategic Plan was to provide every opportunity possible for member voices to be heard and incorporated.

To engage members, we:

• Engaged community directly via a member survey
• Held five targeted town hall meetings
• Promoted the surveys across LPV’s website, social media channels and Posink Express
• Gathered feedback during the Planet Positive Winter Social

Thank you to everyone who participated. Your input was invaluable.

I’d like to especially thank Michele Robbins for her leadership with this initiative. Michele’s professionalism and experience in this space ensured the successful delivery of our new Strategic Plan. Although Michele’s term as a director has ended, we are grateful for her continued commitment to LPV and her engagement via the Strategic Planning Working Group. Michele came to the board through an appointment as an Associate Director. She has been a shining example of how LPV can benefit from our ability to appoint skills-based directors when needed.

Essential to the development of the Strategic Plan was Felicity Green of Ensemble Strategy. Felicity was engaged to facilitate all our strategic planning workshops, including the member town hall and staff feedback forums. Felicity synthesised all member, staff and stakeholder feedback into actionable information, facilitated the board strategic planning workshops and guided the board though the formation of goals and measures contained in the new Strategic Plan.

Priorities for the next term

The priorities of the board for the next term will include:

• Oversight of the operationalising of strategic goals, and the alignment of the strategic and business plans
• Engaging with NAPWHA and our advocacy siblings in ways to share technology, infrastructure and education
• Reviewing funding frameworks with a goal to optimising core funding

Lastly, it gives me great pleasure to announce that the board has completed negotiations to retain Richard Keane as CEO. I can’t praise Richard highly enough for his leadership through these times of change. It’s been a joy to work with Richard this year. I appreciate enormously the open and constructive relationship we have built as President and CEO and all the support he has shown me.

Craig A. Brennan – President

Richard Keane, CEO.

From an operational perspective the financial year of 2021-2022 in some ways was just as challenging as the previous year. Although we were able to draw from the lived experiences of navigating our pathway through an extended lockdown, the impacts of a second lockdown from July to October, with Melbourne having experienced the longest combined lockdown period of any city in the world, had significant impacts on wellbeing, mental health and continuity of care across the range of communities with which we engage.

Lockdowns also had ongoing impacts on our staff team and service delivery model. Not being recognised as an essential “health service” meant additional delays in re-engaging any face-to-face services, this was especially concerning for the peer navigation program. Whilst pre-existing clients had been supported to engage across other platforms, engaging with new referrals remained challenging for the majority of this period. I thank the Victorian Department of Health for their guidance in re-engaging our in-person service delivery following the lockdown period.

Although the challenges were many and varied, the adaptation of our virtual service delivery became more consistent, targeted, and refined. We were very proud of the Taking Charge program which explored a diverse range of topics and implemented smaller group engagement opportunities post-lockdown to provide confidence for PLHIV over 50 to re-engage with in-person supports. Some of the innovations highlighted in the Annual Report 2021-22 like the Positive Relationships and Positive Reflections workshops showcase the learnings during this period and will be aligned to the traditional suite of service delivery options to engage our community moving forward.

It was energising for both staff and community to re-engage key face to face programs for women, heterosexuals and younger people, as well as seeing the implementation of the Asian MSM (men who have sex with men) peer support group.

The strength of our key showcase events remained unhindered with our virtual offerings providing quality engagement opportunities and reach across our state and beyond.

With the focus on 40 years since the first diagnosis of HIV our World AIDS Day Community Forum chose to acknowledge the past, but focus on future directions, with a dynamic range of speakers and engagements across the day. I was delighted with the broad media coverage of this important milestone with our former President Christabel Millar engaged in an ABC television special focussing on 40 years of HIV, and myself engaged with SBS News on World AIDS Day 2021 to talk about emerging communities and the need for in-language information as the face of HIV changes across our state and nation.

Our Candlelight Memorial event focused a theme on HIV and the Arts and showcased some wonderful speakers from the Positive Speakers Bureau and other people living with HIV talking about their art and its impact.

The resumption of Planet Positive, the heterosexual adults retreat and women’s days in 2022 enabled more in-person community connectedness, which is an essential foundation for quality of life among the PLHIV community.

Much work went on behind the scenes with The Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI Australia/New Zealand) with numerous stakeholder meetings taking place ensuring the re-engagement of this flagship leadership program. Living Positive Victoria partnered with NAPWHA to attain a grant from ViiV which will allow us to do a review of the program, update the PLDI website to keep it current and to develop new online engagement modules and opportunities.

Partnerships both local and national remain central to our core values of advocacy and this continued during 2021/22. Some highlights from my perspective were:

• The continued alignment with Positive Women Victoria and Thorne Harbour Health which ensured consistency in approach to re-engaging in-person service delivery
• The development of the new Victorian HIV strategy 2022-30
• The Alfred Hospital’s HIV services review
• Updating the Victorian Guidelines for managing HIV transmission risk behaviours
• Participation in the sex work decriminalisation process
• Reforming the HIV legal working group working engaging with key stakeholders and the Department of Justice around potential unintended consequences of framing new consent laws
• Participation in the development of OHS principles and the framework of the disclosure resource for sex workers living with HIV
• The Doherty Institute’s molecular research project
• HIV and Ageing forum with APCOM (Asia Pacific Community)
• ASHM Roundtable for Tasmania and Victoria, connecting CEOs from the BBV response to Primary Health Networks
• HIV services advisory group
• The national Beyond Resilience conference
• The Operational Leadership Group with NAPWHA and the engagement of the HOLA Education Managers’ Forum via AFAO
• The LGBTQA+ federal election forum and the development of state election priorities with our key local HIV service partners.

Members, I would like to acknowledge my wonderful staff team, who continued to excel and deliver through two years of unprecedented challenges and keep our community informed, empowered and connected.

This year we said farewell to Taylor Mitchell in the role of Community Engagement Officer and welcomed Edwina Landale to the role, and after what seemed like a long wait, welcomed Jen Johnson to the role of Programs Manager. For the first time in my tenure as CEO we have a full complement of staff, and I am excited to see what we might achieve together in the years ahead.

Richard Keane – Chief Executive Officer

Drawing on the experiences of our clients, volunteers and peer staff, we are constantly updating our understanding of the changing needs and strengths of the body positive to ensure our programs continue to evolve in tandem with our communities.

Supporting our Wellbeing

Connection with other people living with HIV contributes to improved wellbeing and quality of life. We see this every day in our engagements with our communities, and despite the disruptions of the last year the demand for peer support and health promotion workshops remains.

As an organisation we aim to offer different options for people to connect with us depending on their needs and where they are in their HIV journey. For some people this means support and assistance connecting with HIV care and other essential services, for others it means joining workshops and support groups to meet other PLHIV, share experiences and learn more about managing HIV. We also seek to provide volunteering, leadership and development opportunities for our communities.

As a peer-led organisation we continually use peer insights to inform our programs and to influence the wider system. Our peer insights tell us about how our communities are travelling, what they need, and who we aren’t reaching.

We know from our work with newly diagnosed people that the experience of being diagnosed with HIV, despite the availability of excellent treatments, is still confusing and overwhelming. Coming to terms with a new HIV diagnosis means grappling with fears about the meaning of HIV, working through the implications for partners and families, and the early decisions about who to tell and how.

We celebrate the continuing decline in new HIV diagnoses among Australian-born gay and bisexual men as a result of regular testing, high ARV treatment coverage and PrEP uptake, and acknowledge the enormous contribution that people with HIV have made and continue to make to this. We also know that Victorians who are acquiring HIV are far more likely to be members of migrant communities, heterosexual communities and women, all communities that benefited less from the available HIV testing, prevention and treatment options.

Phoenix, our flagship workshop for newly diagnosed people, has for 15 years provided a safe landing for people with a new HIV diagnosis to learn the basics of HIV, and connect with a group of people who are at a similar point in their HIV journey.

We were not able to conduct a Phoenix workshop throughout 2021-22 period. Phoenix is a workshop that relies on the whole group experience, and as such is very difficult to convert to an online format. As was the case in the 2020-21 period, we transferred one of Phoenix sessions to an online platform and held a webinar titled "Get Your Questions Answered". This was an opportunity for members, particularly newly diagnosed, to spend added time with an S100 HIV antivirals prescriber and ask the many questions that fill the minds of people with HIV.

The Phoenix program has changed over time as the demographics of newly diagnosed communities have changed. The Phoenix program will continue to offer a safe and connected space for people newly engaging with their HIV diagnosis, and in the year ahead we will be reviewing and renewing the Phoenix workshop model to ensure that it continues to meet the diverse and changing needs of the newest members of our HIV communities.

"It was important being involved with others who have the same things in common, I completed my advanced life directives paperwork, I created recipes and art pieces as I got in touch with my creative mind, I achieved some self-managed goals, I met people and expanded my support networks for future meetings, I have become more self-sufficient and I understand it all better, I've learnt about being responsible for myself, I am better at planning, at managing fatigue, at problem solving, I've put my life into more perspective, I know now how to keep calm and not be too hard on myself, I learnt how to make a commitment, keep it and the result was feeling good about it."

– Phoenix workshop attendee

New Programs

In response to changes to the lived experiences of people living with HIV in Australia, we have trialled number of new programs over the past financial year.

Positive Relationships is a workshop that offers a safe environment for people living with HIV to explore the intricacies of sex, dating and relationships. HIV stigma can make approaching sex, dating and relationships daunting. This workshop explores the complexities of these issues and gives support in talking about HIV to potential partners in the context of sex, dating and relationships. A key feature of the workshop is a discussion by a sero-discordant couple about their experience of sharing their HIV status and forming a relationship. The workshop provides an overview of legal issues relating to HIV disclosure and explores strategies for talking with potential partners about HIV stigma, U=U and PrEP. The workshop has evolved out of previous workshops held at the Adults’ Retreat for women and heterosexual men, which were adaptations from the Phoenix workshop. It was adapted to the online space during COVID-19 restrictions and has been modified to appropriately address the concerns of different groups such as young people and gay and bisexual MSM. As COVID-19 restrictions eased, we were able to offer this workshop in person. We held one in-person workshop for women and heterosexual men, with 13 people participating. We held two workshops for MSM, with 11 participants joining online and 10 attending in person.

Positive Reflections is another new offering that allows a safe space for our community members to explore their life as people living with HIV, and a chance to be part of a small, facilitated group to reflect and share the trajectory of their journey, their hardships, their triumphs and their resilience. Three workshops have been run: one for women and heterosexual men; one for MSM; and one mixed group, with 15 participants in total. A number of the participants have shown an interest in exploring HIV storytelling further and joining the Positive Speakers Bureau.

Communications

During the lockdowns of 2021/22 our communications channels continued to be a vital link with communities that were previously reliant on face-to-face contact. The ongoing online delivery of our health promotion activities continued to influence the way we connected and the way we learnt from each other during this time. Presenting key calendar events such as the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial (IACM) and World AIDS Day online meant that we were able extend the reach beyond our traditional in-person audiences and reach people nationally and internationally, positioning Living Positive Victoria as a global voice for the HIV response.

The investment in a part-time Community Engagement Officer to assist in the development of our web and social media presence has meant that our media and communications output has been able to actively respond to the dramatic shift in the need to reach digital audiences. Community interest in the activities of Living Positive Victoria has been able to be nurtured across a range digital platforms.

Our newsletters, Poslink Quarterly and Poslink Express continued to tell the ever-evolving, human story of our community response to HIV as well as provide regular news and program updates to our member-subscribers and social media followers.

In the first half of 2022, we launched a new web hub for PLHIV over 50. The Well Beyond 50 website provides a space for the distinct experiences and concerns of older people with HIV, including those who have lived long-term with HIV. It also offers health information and resources on a range of topics relevant to older PLHIV. Storytelling through the website and articles in Poslink have been central to maintaining a sense of self, reconciling loss and battling ongoing stigma for this generation.

Community member Susan Paxton speaking at the launch of the Well Beyond 50 Website in April 2022.

Our newsletters allowed us to mark milestones like World AIDS Day and 40 years of the epidemic. The Spring 2021 edition of Poslink Quarterly featured updates on the search for a cure and reflections on what it will mean to live our lives to their full potential in the years before and after we end HIV transmission.

As we learned to ride each new COVID-19 wave, our newsletters resumed one of their vital roles: connecting each other to community. Contributors transformed Summer 2021 edition of Poslink Quarterly into a lunar festival celebration, showcasing health messaging displayed at street carnivals over the years and a story from a member, Shaun, reflecting on the new year, life with HIV and his Chinese heritage. This edition also focused on a grass roots initiative engaging people from refugee and migrant backgrounds with an article offering their perspectives on how our peer response can continue to influence an increasingly diverse and multifaceted community of people living with HIV now and into the future.

The Summer 2022 issue of Poslink welcomed the year of the water tiger by focusing on the recently formed Positive Asian Network Australia.

Positive Speakers Bureau

Tackling the problems of stigma and discrimination is central to the work of the Positive Speakers Bureau (PSB). Stigma and discrimination however do not sit alone, they intersect with service delivery, mental health, physical wellbeing, quality of life, and sex and relationships. The speakers from the PSB discuss how their diverse experiences of living with HIV all show that stigma and discrimination still exist and highlight the need to break down the barriers to their psychological and physical wellbeing, equity of access to services and the enjoyment of fulfilling relationships.

The training of speakers in the PSB incorporates several strategies to help develop confident and competent speakers who can address their lived experience of HIV and share it with diverse audiences. The training ensures that all speakers have a solid understanding of health literacy, and how their experiences fit within that framework, so that they are able to describe their health journey and make it relatable to others. The PSB program also endeavours to ensure that every speaker is an advocate for their own health and that of their peers. These skills are used when speakers present at events such as World AIDS Day, the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, and the many talks presented to schools, workplaces and community organisations.

One of the biggest challenges that the PSB faced in 2021-22 was the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the decreased demand for speakers. There was also the challenge of engaging speakers to use video conferencing platforms to deliver their talks. After some trial and error most speakers are now quite familiar with the use of such platforms and are happy to deliver their talks remotely.

World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day showcases the strong partnerships that Living Positive Victoria has developed and nurtured over 30 years. The first World AIDS Day event occurred in 1991 and since then LPV has worked with many key stakeholders and organisations to create an event that is both relevant and engaging to a range of audiences. For the 2021 World AIDS Day events LPV connected with the Commonwealth and Victorian Departments of Health, the Alfred Hospital, ViiV Healthcare, the Doherty Institute, the Burnet Institute, mHIVE, RMIT, University of Melbourne, the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, Thorne Harbour Health, Positive Women Victoria, NAPWHA, and the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health. World AIDS Day 2021 was a pre-recorded event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The official community launch of World AIDS Day 2021, with the theme of ‘40 years of HIV: Where to Next?’ was conducted in the offices of Living Positive Victoria.

The keynote speakers for the event were:

• MC: Craig Brennan, President of Living Positive Victoria
• Keynote Speakers: Hon. Martin Foley, Minister for Health, and the Hon. Harriet Shing, Parliamentary Secretary for Equality
• Panellists: Associate Professor Jennifer Power as MC, in conversation with positive speakers Bev, Darren, Adam, and Heather
• Community Leaders in conversation: Michael West as MC, in conversation with Richard Keane, Kirsty Machon, Simon Ruth and Brent Allan
• Entertainment was provided by the LowRez Male Choir

2021 World AIDS Day live-stream panelists Michael West, Richard Keane, Kirsty Machon, Brent Allan and Simon Ruth.

International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

The 2022 IACM was a pre-recorded event attended by approximately 80 people who listened to a number of keynote speakers as well as the performance of three songs by the LowRez Male Choir.

The keynote speakers for the event were Kirsty Machon, CEO of Positive Women Victoria, Roz Bellamy as MC, Jacob Boehme, Phillip Adams, and Heather Ellis.

Two positive speakers, Stephanie and Clint, shared moving and inspiring stories of their lived experiences of HIV.

“The light of the candle is handed from one generation to the next. Keep it burning bright.”

– Phil Carswell, Founding organiser of the Melbourne IACM

Community panellists Roz Bellamy, Phillip Adams, Heather Ellis, and Jacob Boehme at the 2022 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial.

Sex Work Law Reform

The Sex Work Decriminalisation Act 2022 (SWDA22) is a historic change for the sex industry in Victoria; especially for those living with HIV and other blood borne viruses. As of May 10 2022, it was no longer a criminal offence for sex workers to work with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or blood borne virus (BBV). Living Positive Victoria and the VIXEN collective have worked in collaboration to progress this law reform over a number of years to ensure that sex workers living with HIV were no longer unnecessarily persecuted under the law; to give all sex workers greater agency over how they conduct their business; and to provide safer working conditions and protection.

Sex workers living and working with HIV will no longer be criminalised. While sex workers remain a key population for people living with HIV globally, within Australia and Victoria this has never been the case. The sex work response to HIV in Australia has always been one of prevention with the community actively promoting the use of condoms. Despite this, the law has not always treated sex workers, especially those living with HIV, as being capable or responsible enough to manage HIV prevention. Thankfully, the SWDA22 not only removes the criminalisation of sex workers living with HIV, but also gives all sex workers agency over prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Not only will sex workers no longer have to undergo mandatory STI testing, but they will also be allowed to determine their own methods of STI prevention based on their own personal risk assessments. Living Positive Victoria respects and supports the autonomy of people living with HIV over their individual life decisions and experiences.

There are many more remarkable changes in the SWDA22 which gives sex workers greater agency and safety for their chosen profession. This law reform speaks to what can be achieved through community partnerships.

President’s Award

Michael West

Awarded at the discretion of the President to an individual, group or organisation within the broader community that has demonstrated visionary leadership in improving the quality of life for HIV-positive people. Often the recipient will have served over a long period and contributed to high-level improvements in services for HIV-positive people and to an increased level of awareness of HIV issues.

Upon hearing of the news that Michael West was moving on from the role of Manager of the Sexual Health and Viral Hepatitis programs at the Victorian Department of Health, we are proud to acknowledge Michael’s unparalleled contribution to the Victorian HIV response.

For over a decade Michael has been a trusted, valued and skilled intermediary between community and the Victorian Department of Health. Michael has provided consistency, support and direction to many who are engaged in leadership roles across the BBV sector. Michael’s commitment to the meaningful involvement of affected communities has enabled others to act with innovation and the entire Victorian response to HIV remains all the better for it.

Michael’s unique understanding, insight and tolerance has provided a foundational confidence at both a jurisdictional and national level, playing a huge role improving the lives of every person living with HIV across this state from behind the scenes. Michael’s skilled strategic acumen and allyship remains without peer. It is only matched by the warmth of their smile, their humility and generosity.

We wish Michael all the best in their future endeavours and hope this award provides a brief moment of personal reflection on an invaluable contribution.

This year’s President’s Award is presented from our hearts to yours – Michael West.

Special Acknowledgement Award

Peter Collins

The Special Acknowledgement Award is given to an individual, group or organisation that has had a significant impact on the lives of people living with HIV through a sustained and extraordinary contribution that supports and empowers our positive community.

Peter was a quiet achiever within the Victorian HIV response, and we are honoured to award him the Special Acknowledgement Award.

Peter was a key member of the Positive Living Centre GROW group for mental health peer support from 2011-2013. He was much loved and highly respected by his peers for the encouragement and care he showed other members of the group and is credited by members of GROW for his ability to gently support their self-belief and wellbeing as people living with HIV.

Peter served on the Board of Directors of Straight Arrows from 2014 to 2016. He was highly committed to the merger between Straight Arrows and Living Positive Victoria and was a linchpin in securing support for the merger among Straight Arrows members.

Peter was a member of the first Board of Directors after the merger of Living Positive Victoria and Straight Arrows, serving a two-year term. Through his advocacy he made sure that the needs of heterosexual men and women continued to be addressed within the newly merged organisation. Peter also made sure that our World AIDS Day events provided a voice for multi-faith communities and invited the CEO to address an event at the Metropolitan Community church in Hawthorn on December 1st in 2018. This was an opportunity show the church that LPV welcomed and respected all people of all faiths living with HIV.

After his retirement from the Living Positive Victoria Board, Peter relocated to the warmth of Darwin where he started a new life with his partner Gary, something he had long been dreaming of. At living Positive Victoria, we were all saddened to hear of Peter’s passing earlier this year. We want to honour the life of Peter and acknowledge his commitment to improving the lives and wellbeing of people living with HIV through his long involvement with the GROW Group and his volunteer work at Living Positive Victoria and Straight Arrows. Peter was a much-loved member of our community and a tireless advocate for people living with HIV. His gentle warmth and humour are greatly missed.

Positive Health and Wellbeing Award

Centre for Culture, Ethnicity & Health

The Positive Health and Wellbeing Award is given to an individual, group or organisation that has made an exceptional contribution to supporting, building and delivering excellence in health care, research and health promotion initiatives which improve the health and wellbeing of people living with HIV in Victoria.

Living Positive Victoria takes great pleasure in honouring the work of the Multicultural Health and Support Service at the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health for their commitment and dedication in supporting the health and wellbeing of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds living with HIV or at risk of HIV. The Multicultural Health and Support Service has a long history of providing targeted community education and peer education on sexual health, viral hepatitis and HIV, respectful relationships and contraception for people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, asylum seekers and international students. They are highly respected for their workforce development training and recognised as providers of quality workshops and events for the STI and BBV sector workforce.

Living Positive Victoria highly values the longstanding partnership we have had with the Multicultural Health and Support Service. With the signing of our MOU in 2022 we have strengthened that partnership and forged strong relationships between our teams. The links forged between our organisations benefit us all in providing culturally safe and appropriate services to people living with HIV from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

We would like to thank all the MHSS team. We highly value the complex and difficult work you do, and the sensitivity and dedication with which you perform it. We acknowledge your team’s understanding of the lived experiences of the communities that you work with, and the way you use this to assist organisations such as ours to improve the work that we do with our clients and members from migrant and refugee backgrounds. We are excited about our strengthening partnership and look forward to working with you to continue supporting people living with HIV, and those at risk of HIV, to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.

Community Development Award

Andrew Chan – The Cat Who Knits

The Community Development award is given to an individual, group or organisation who has supported and empowered our positive community to sustain and build activities and meet emerging needs.

For the last three decades textiles have been intertwined with HIV. The Memorial Quilt remains the most impactful visual reminder of the loss of life brought about by HIV. So in that vein, it seems fitting that textiles are part of our shared visual language asserting the new stage of the HIV pandemic. Drawing on the visual language of iconic Australian artist Leigh Bowery, Andrew Chan (otherwise known as thecatwhoknits) presents an engaging visual work asserting the message of Undetectable = Untransmittable.

Despite the works defiant and boldly spoken message, it’s evocation of the memorial quilt and Leigh Bowery is a reminder of the foundations on which this message has been built; the activism, creativity and tragedy of the HIV era. Andrew’s work is a reminder of the struggle to bring U=U to a wider audience, and the struggle of the HIV positive community to escape the stigma and discrimination of the past. By bringing his work to Melbourne Fashion Week and as part of his exhibition Rebuilding Queerness, the piece brought its message to a new audience and sparked a new conversation for those who have not yet engaged with what has been known medical knowledge for over six years.

Matthew Gallagher, Treasurer.

Making our money count

As almost half of the 2021-22 financial period was spent in lockdown, there was once again a positive impact on our financial bottom line, which unfortunately aligns with our struggle to deliver our usual full calendar of services during this time. This goes a long way to explaining the significant surplus in our accounts, on top of the surplus from the previous financial year. Fortunately, this sets us in good stead for the coming years, as we hopefully leave lockdowns behind us and deliver catch up programs and return to our regular services.

As a service-based organisation, salaries and wages, along with rent, remain our biggest expenses, with program-specific other costs dropping as our events calendar dried up. The previous year included some one-off grants that weren’t ongoing, which explains the lower revenue figure.

In addition to the bottom-line net surplus income figures, our net-cash savings also increased year on year, for the same reasons noted above. This leaves us with more than sufficient financial fuel in the tank to be able to rebound strongly this coming year.

Previously postponed due to the lockdowns, this year, we have again entered our team in the Great Victorian Bike Ride. Our fundraising pages are live and we’d be grateful to you for helping spread the word or donating to the team - we’ll be riding over 300kms on our pushbikes. We’re seeking to raise $10,000 to help us launch new programs to support the community. Efforts like this are aligned with my role as treasurer - to help support the long-term financial viability of this long-standing organisation, and hopefully diversify our revenue streams.

Matthew Gallagher – Treasurer

Thank You

Participation, resilience, empowerment and building community are only a few of the reasons which motivate our volunteers, our donors, our partners and our supporters to continue their involvement with Living Positive Victoria.

Our thanks come not only from our staff and board, but from the diversity of people living with HIV who realise that with your support, we are stronger together.

Living Positive Victoria works to provide programs and services for people living with HIV that go towards improved health education and awareness, building resilience, community connectivity, capacity building and peer-to-peer support.

With a one-off donation or regular recurring donations, your support will make a difference to the quality of life of people living with HIV and help us address the psychological and physical health barriers that alter the ability of people living with HIV to live the best life they can.

Living Positive Victoria acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.

Living Positive Victoria (People Living With HIV/AIDS Victoria Incorporated)

ABN 67 049 438 341 • Registration No. A0039027B

Coventry House 95, Coventry Street, Southbank, Victoria 3006

T: 03 9863 8733

F: 03 9863 8734

E: info@livingpositivevictoria.org.au

livingpositivevictoria.org.au