Michele Kosky has been named as a recipient of the Queen’s Birthday Honours for her work with the WA AIDS Council (WAAC) and the Health Consumers Council of WA.
As director of WAAC for seven years, Ms Kosky saw the organisation through the late 1980s and early 1990s- a time in which the first antiretroviral drugs became available, the first World AIDS Day was held and the infamous Grim Reaper commercial hit television screens.
It was also a time of landmark legal cases concerning many aspects of HIV and AIDS. Ms Kosky says one of her proudest achievements during her years at WAAC was the organisation’s involvement in a 1989 Supreme Court case in which a radio broadcaster alleged a young man had knowingly infected others with HIV and threatened to publicly disclose his name.
‘Talk-back radio kings thought they could run AIDS policy,’ said Ms Kosky.
‘They’d made a false accusation about this person and they were then going to name the person.
‘We took the matter to the Supreme Court and won it. That was a huge victory really.
‘It was also a huge risk for the council because the person didn’t have any money; we had to meet their legal costs out of fundraised funds, not out of our government funding.’
While not directly involved, Ms Kosky and WAAC also offered support for the people who took action against the segregation of HIV positive prisoners.
‘If you were HIV positive and a prisoner, you were locked up in a prison, within Fremantle prison- in the infectious diseases unit,’ she explained.
‘You weren’t allowed to mix with other prisoners and you had limited access to education and training.
‘Two young blokes took the matter to the Equal Opportunity Commission and they found that the department of corrective services had acted illegally in isolating people.’
Ms Kosky still applies the wealth of knowledge she gained through her time at WAAC to her current position at the Health Consumer’s Council of WA.
‘The lessons that I learnt from people with HIV and AIDS, in terms of human rights in health, should be applied equally to people with cancer, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, mental illness, you name it.
‘In a sense that’s why I came to the Health Consumer’s Council, to broaden that message about human rights in health to a whole range of people with chronic conditions.’
Ms Kosky says it is the people involved and the organisation’s structure that gives WAAC its strength.
‘I worked with a terrific bunch of people in the staff and a wonderful group of board members and I’d really like to acknowledge that’
She also praised WAAC’s first director, Des Perry, who laid the foundations for the organisation’s structure in 1985.
‘He set up an organisation on which you could develop and build other parts, without the core being damaged or upset in any way.
‘In terms of putting together a basic structure for an organisation he did a great job, as did the board that supported him.’
Ms Kosky will be presented with her honours during a ceremony at Government House in September.
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