Some moments in history remind us who we can be at our best.
I’ve been reading Val McDermid’s novel 1989, and it sent me down a rabbit hole of memory and research. The book touches on the AIDS epidemic, that terrifying, uncertain time when a diagnosis felt like a death sentence, and I found myself remembering what it was like to be a pharmacist back then.
I can still see the face of the first person who came in with a script for one of the new HIV drugs. We had to order it through a special clinic, and everyone in the pharmacy treated that person with quiet respect. There was fear, yes, but there was also deep compassion. We knew we were standing in the middle of something history-making, even if we didn’t yet understand it.
Courage and compassion can change the course of a crisis.
Reading 1989 inspired me to dig deeper, and what I found filled me with pride. Australia’s response to HIV and AIDS was extraordinary. We didn’t look away. We listened to the science, worked with the people most affected, and refused to let stigma drive the response.
Australia listened, cared, and led — and the world noticed.
Under Bob Hawke’s Labor government, with Health Minister Neal Blewett at the helm, we built partnerships between government, doctors, and community groups like ACON.
When politics steps aside, progress steps forward.
We introduced needle exchange programs, ran bold public health campaigns, and made treatment and testing accessible to all. It wasn’t perfect, but it saved thousands of lives and became known worldwide as the Australian model.
Science mattered, but so did empathy.
I feel very strongly about the stigma that still surrounds gay relationships. The irony is that the same community that was hardest hit also became one of the strongest forces in fighting the epidemic, organising care, demanding research, and shaping prevention campaigns that ended up saving lives far beyond their own circle.
The people most affected became the ones who saved us all.
It struck me how different that felt to today. When COVID hit, we started strong, with the National Cabinet bringing everyone to the same table, but it didn’t take long for cooperation to crumble. The spirit that carried us through the HIV crisis, that sense of unity and shared purpose, feels much harder to find now.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see that kind of bipartisan leadership again? To see our political parties stop fighting each other long enough to work for the good of the country and its people. We’ve done it before, with courage, compassion, and respect, and 1989 reminded me we could do it again.
We’ve done it before. We can do it again
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