Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 12:37:00 EDT From: Brendon Wickham Subject: Brother Sister News BROTHER SISTER - QUEER NEWS FROM DOWNUNDER ============================================================ FIRM LEADS REFORM *Corporate Australia is starting to take discrimination in the workplace seriously, including anti-gay vilification.* Leading the charge is industrial giant, ICI Australia which has recently introduced its "managing diversity" policy. Under the policy the company will not tolerate discrimination or harassment relating to race, colour, sex, sexual preference, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin. "Entry into the company, selection for specific jobs and career progression will be determined by personal merit, competency and potential to effectively perform the job," it states. Managing director of ICI, Warren Haynes said, "We believe our attitude on equal opportunity and harassment is fair and good for the individuals involved and for the company (and) I ask all employees to maintain our continuing commitment to an atmosphere of mutual respect." Putting the policy into practice, ICI has embarked on a major nationwide training program for all its 9,000 employees. The two hour training sessions are being conducted by the Council for Equal Opportunity in Employment, a body jointly established by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. According to the Council's training brochure: "Harassment in the workplace is in many instances unlawful and flies in the face of good human resource practice and equal opportunity principles. It has no place in any organisation which is committed to improving its competitive position." The brochure says workplace harassment has the potential to be immensely destructive of individuals, relationships and organisational productivity. "Enlightened organisations are committed to providing harassment free workplaces as a basic human right. They also recognise that both the harasser and the person being harassed are not working to their full capacity while the harassment is occurring. Harassment therefore significantly lowers productivity," it says. "Many areas of harassment are, by law, a management area of responsibility. The onus rests with the employer pro-actively to educate the entire workforce about the issue and unacceptable behaviours. It is also an area of direct personal responsibility for all workplace participants." The Council's assistant director, Bronwen Dixon described ICI as "a corporate leader" in the field. She said the company would win out because a harassment free workplace would lead to significant productivity gains. One ICI employee who last week undertook the session commented: "As a lesbian and generally concerned citizen, I was very impressed on the emphasis placed on the total unacceptability of harassment of gay men and lesbians, as well as the racial, disabled and aged portions of the population." She urged people to support ICI by buying their products such as Dulux and Selleys. EUTHANASIA TOP ISSUE FOR VAC *The Victorian AIDS Council is pushing for reform of the state's euthanasia laws as a top priority issue.* The Council has joined forces with the Voluntary Euthanasia Society and Council for Civil Liberties to undertake a campaign aimed at changing the laws. According to a draft policy document before the Council there has been a widespread shift of opinion in favour of euthanasia, especially among people living with Aids and their carers. "The law in Victoria should be changed to extend to people who want euthanasia the autonomy already permitted to those who choose suicide," the document says. "In a limited number of cases, the desire of PLWAs to die is irrational and their interests should be protected when mental illness affects their judgement. (Also) some forms of care may indirectly reduce the power of PLWAs (and others) to direct their own lives, so protection should be increased against their lives being ended without their consent," the document adds. Recently seven Victorian doctors, including Prahran Clinic's Dr Norman Roth, released a statement declaring they had assisted terminally ill patients to die. According to AIDS Council president, Bradley Englemann: "Those doctors have given Victoria the chance to be a leader in this field and we should take the opportunity to show we are a compassionate state that respects an individuals right to choose to die with dignity." On Monday, the Shadow Minister for Health, John Thwaites called for a Parliamentary inquiry to look at the question of changing the laws. Despite the Premier Jeff Kennet rejecting that call, Thwaites remains hopeful the Government will change its position. "The Opposition believed that Parliament cannot sweep this issue under the carpet," he said. "The current laws mean that people with Aids are being treated in an ad hoc and inconsistent manner depending on who they are and who their doctor is. "It cannot simply be left to doctors or the AMA (Australian Medical Association) to decide because it is Parliament which is responsible for the laws under which doctors who assist patients to die may be liable to criminal prosecution. "The Opposition believes a bi-partisan approach is needed which will allow all the issues to be considered in a balanced and sensible way." CHALLENGE TO DEFENCE OVER HIV RECRUITS *An HIV positive man is challenging the Australian Defence Force's policy not to recruit HIV positive people in a Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal Inquiry.* The man, 31, formerly a top reserve, completed five weeks of a recruitment training course before being discharged in December 1993 after finding he had category 2 HIV. Under Defence Force regulations, soldiers who are category 1 or 2 HIV positive are given restrictive duties but recruits are automatically discharged. Counsel for the recruit, Ms Kate Holmes, said the recruit had hoped to work in the Signal Corps where he would pose little risk of infection to other soldiers and would be exempt from overseas deployment. However, Colonel David Webster, the Australian Army's head of personnel planning told the inquiry there was a surplus of unhealthy soldiers and a shortage of those fit to serve overseas. Counsel for the Army, Mr Richard Tracey QC, said Army regulations demanded HIV positive recruits as they placed an unjustifiable hardship on other soldiers. The Complainant argued that if he sustained an open wound, anyone treating him would be safe provided they themselves had no open wounds and wore rubber gloves. He said at the time of his recruitment he was unaware of his HIV status, having tested negative twelve months earlier. A decision on the case is expected before the end of April. L D Clacher BANNED MOVIES SHOWN *Last weekend's screening of gay and lesbian films banned by Tasmania's Attorney-General, Ron Cornish, went ahead without interference from the police.* The screening was conducted by the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group at the end of the inaugural Tasmanian gay and lesbian film festival. Rights Groups spokesperson, Rodney Croome, said nearly 100 people attended the public screening at the School of Fine Arts. "Mr Cornish has made a mockery of his position as Attorney- General by announcing a discriminatory ban and then failing to enforce that ban", Croome said. "It's clear that Ron Cornish doesn't have the courage of his convictions." Croome said he hoped the authorities would not pursue the matter further. "I'd like to think that the Tasmanian Police have better things to do with their time than arrest people for screening utterly uncontroversial films that have been, or will be, shown in every other state." Mr Croome called on the ALP and the Greens to commit themselves to a review of the Attorney-General's powers to ban unclassified films. ============================================================ BOTTOM LINE Australia Post recently celebrated The International Year of Tolerance with a family picnic at the Royal Melbourne Showground. Diversity was the theme of the picnic and this was demonstrated through many sport and cultural events depicting the cultural diversity of it 10,000 permanent staff. Over 20,000 staff and family attended on the day. The gay community was also invited to help celebrate diversity. The Boot Scooters and the Rainbow Cloggers put up four hours of magnificent line dancing involving hundreds of delighted and surprised Australia Post staff who wanted to learn line dancing from those handsome cowboys and cowgirls. Australia Post also has a support group for its employees who are HIV positive. Keith Paulus, a former Victorian Aids Council trainer and carer is the convener of the group. *** Brother Sister is a fortnightly newspaper published in Melbourne, VIC and Brisbane, QLD, Australia. I have selected the main news stories as well as items of interest. If you have any contributions, comments or questions, please e-me on (leto@werple.mira.net.au). NB: If you are representing overseas media and wish to utilise any or all of the above material, please credit Brother Sister as your source (and by-line if it is listed). Thank You. Brendon Wickham