Ian Rankin interviewed by James Waites

Ian Rankin, President of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations speaks about his upbringing; attending Sydney University, studying Economics; the early days of AIDS; gay-related immune deficiency (GRID); working for the Commonwealth Employment Service (1986?); Australian Clerical Officers Association (ACOA); Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU); work-based politics (1991-92); his involvement in social advocacy and activism; AZT trials; standing as ALP candidate; relocating to Canberra; Dr Peter Rowland; local HIV services; peer support groups; leaving the Public service; his professional HIV involvement; position as Convenor of People Living With HIV/AIDS-ACT (PLWHA-ACT) and President of AIDS Action Council-ACT; becoming President of National Association of PLWHA; the arrival of highly active anti-retroviral therapies; combination therapies; Fusion inhibitors; his early involvement in HIV community sector activity; Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) delegate; the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACTUP) model. Rankin discusses the Howard government; Australian partnership model; policies relating to drug injecting; AIDS Match Funding Programme and Medicare AIDS Programme; from 1996, Public Health Outcomes Funding Agreement (PHOFA) merges with other programmes; HIV community sector over past 10 years, reduced resources while an increasing HIV+ population; Welfare to Work; co-payment of prescription drugs; the need for a chronic illness card; the Disability Support Pension (DSP); Canberra's first mobile needle exchange; peer-based projects; AIDS Action Council, PLWHA-ACT; his involvement in AIDS Action; the Doctors Reform Society; the changes in approach to education over past decade; drug use in Canberra; challenges resulting from success of Australian response; reduction of death rates; how the infection rate is rising; heterosexual stream; the proximity of PNG epidemic; Australia in the future global context. Timed summary (9 p.) and uncorrected transcript (typescript, 85 leaves)