My name is Cath, I love my life in country Victoria, I love horse-riding, I love snow skiing and I love my community. I am also a woman living with HIV.

I'm calling for a new National HIV Education Campaign, because I want to put a stop to HIV Stigma.

In the lead up to the 2018 by-election for Wentworth, the independent candidate was falsely accused of living with HIV.

As a woman living with HIV,  I couldn't help but think, does this mean that my HIV status could prevent me from reaching my potential as a political candidate; would nobody vote for me because I was living with HIV; or, does having HIV mean I am unworthy of participating wholly in my local community?

When HIV is still used as a smear tactic, it makes me despair.  For over 40 years we have lived with HIV Stigma, despite the fact that for over 20 years, HIV treatments have been so effective in suppressing the virus that people are living healthy fulfilling lives.

Undetectable = Untransmittable, or U=U means anyone living with HIV, on effective treatment, poses ZERO risk of transmitting the virus sexually, yet many Australians might not have heard this life-affirming news, and that's understandable.

The only national public health messaging about HIV/AIDS was the Grim Reaper Campaign in 1987. Many of us will never forget those ads. Now, we need something just as effective,  to spread the good news and cure the hangover of that campaign for good; 35 years is far too long in-between public health updates for a Global Pandemic.

Things have changed so much since 1987, but one thing that hasn't changed fast enough is ending HIV Stigma. It's the reason why nefarious people use HIV as slander in political landscapes and why people living with HIV experience discrimination and isolation. 

Please help me by supporting the need for Australia's entire population to be brought up to date on HIV, as I can't do it alone.