Former Queensland Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen was opposed to aboriginal people having access to HIV testing and treatment, telling then Health Minister Mike Ahern that aboriginal people deserved to die of AIDS related illnesses.
Ahern, who went on to become Premier after Bjelke-Petersen stepped down in 1987, made the startling claims in an interview with Brisbane newspaper The Courier Mail.
Ahern said that when he was health minister Queensland’s long standing Premier told him he believed AIDS was a punishment from God and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders should not be tested for HIV.
Health officials had told Ahern that the AIDS epedemic had the potential to wipe out entire communities. The Health Minister ignored Bjelke-Petersen’s instructions and allowed blood tests to go ahead.
“Joh was aggressive towards me in relation to this,’’ Ahern said.
“He felt that somehow or other God was punishing these people and I should leave it alone and let God look after his own. I said I can’t do that.”
Ahern introduced a sex education program and worked to stop HIV being spread in the state.
Bjelke-Petersen was Premier of Queensland for almost two decades, he died in 2005.
OIP Staff
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