The Victorian Government will today introduce legislation to repeal a law that makes deliberately infecting a person with HIV a crime because it discriminates against people with the disease.
Under the Crimes Act, deliberately infecting a person with HIV currently carries a maximum sentence of 25 years’ jail.
The Victorian Government said it would repeal an unnecessary law that discriminates against people with HIV.
Attorney-General Martin Pakula said the law was now covered by other laws and created a stigma around those who had HIV.
“Section 19A of the Crimes Act is an anachronistic law, it unfairly stigmatises people with HIV and creates the impression they’re a danger to the community and they’re not,” Mr Pakula said.
“This law has been rarely used and it’s overdue for repeal.
“It was introduced in 1993 after a spate of incidents where people had been threatened with blood-filled syringes, but it’s never been used for an incident of that type and since the law was introduced other laws have been changed
“Now if you threaten someone with a drug-filled syringe for instance, that comes under the definition of serious injury, if you intentionally inflict serious injury.
“That [law] wasn’t in place back in 1993, it’s just not necessary anymore to have a specific provision with regards to infecting someone with HIV.”
Mr Pakula said cases of people threatening others with infection were almost non-existent.
“It was a law introduced at a time when our understanding of HIV was far different to the understanding we have now, back in the 1990s it was considered an absolute death sentence, but now medical advances means many people live long lives,” he said.
“And in cases where it does happen there are other laws which are in place which can punish those people.”
Mr Pakula said the Government would introduce the proposal in Parliament for debate today and needed the support of the cross-benchers and the Opposition to get it passed through both houses.