PM John Howard criticized after HIV immigration remark

Refugee advocates and health groups accused Australian Prime Minister John Howard of discrimination yesterday after he suggested banning HIV-positive migrants from entering the country.

Howard, whose conservative government has introduced stringent immigration restrictions since winning power in 1996, said he would consider legislative changes to stop HIV-positive migrants from settling in Australia.

"My initial reaction is no [they should not be allowed in]," Howard told commercial radio on Friday.

"There may be some humanitarian considerations that could temper that in certain cases, but, prima facie -- no."

Howard was responding to an official study showing the number of people infected with the virus moving to Victoria state had quadrupled in the past two years and that some of these people were migrants.

But the Victorian AIDS Council said overseas arrivals accounted for only nine of the 334 new HIV notifications in the state last year and it was wrong to single out immigrants as a source of infection.

"That number is incredibly low," council president Mike Kennedy told Melbourne's Age newspaper. "In Australia the bulk of the epidemic is gay men."

Under current requirements, all permanent resident applicants over 15 are tested for HIV and tuberculosis but are not automatically rejected, the West Australian newspaper reported.

Victorian Refugee Action Collective spokesman Tim Peterson said Australia had an obligation to shelter asylum seekers regardless of their HIV status.

"This is a cruel and heartless position from Howard that panders to people's worst fears without having any basis in fact," Peterson said.

"It continues to scapegoat refugees. We've seen Howard do this again and again, he's tried to link refugees to terrorism, he's warned people Australia will be flooded with refugees -- now he's blaming them for HIV infection.

"I've seen no evidence linking migrants to HIV rates in Australia and the prime minister should stop trying to whip up fears about a vulnerable section of the community."

University of Melbourne infectious diseases specialist Chris Lemoh, who is completing a doctorate on HIV and AIDS in Victoria's African communities, said Howard's comments unfairly singled out migrants.

Lemoh said most cases of HIV in Australia were acquired in the country and excluding migrants with the disease would achieve nothing.

"It's a hysterical overreaction, it mixes racism with a phobia about infectious disease," he said.

"I think to not allow people to come on the basis of any health condition is immoral, it's unethical and it's impractical to enforce.

"Most of the people who acquire HIV acquire it here and most of them are born here," he said.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Center's Pamela Curr said Howard's comments scapegoated migrants and smacked of racism against refugees from Africa.