3 weeks Ago By Maeve Bannister
In a first for Australian politicians, a Greens MP has joined OnlyFans to spruik a new policy that would make a vital HIV-prevention medication free. or signup to continue reading Queensland Greens MP Stephen Bates has joined the subscription-based platform to announce his party's campaign to make PrEP and PEP medication free for anyone with a script. PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a tablet that people can take to reliably prevent HIV and costs about $31 a month with a prescription.
It is used by nearly 100,000 Australians. The Greens proposal would cost $6 billion but would be a measure to materially improve people's lives and health, and also save the healthcare system money, the minor party said. In 2022, Mr Bates took part in a Grindr campaign and decided to add OnlyFans this time around as another way to reach voters.
OnlyFans is a site that allows people to subscribe and access free or paid content, and is often used by adult content creators. While PrEP and PEP have been on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme since 2018, the growing gap payment means users can be out of pocket hundreds of dollars a year. Making the medications free would ensure people in the LGBTQI community would live long and healthy lives, Mr Bates said.
"So many people in the LGBTIQA+ community use PrEP to check themselves and others around them, so this announcement is so exciting to make sure that people have access to healthcare when they need it, and that it is free," he said. The Greens have announced a suite of LGBTQI-friendly healthcare policies in the election campaign, including ending the ban on blood donations by gay men and making IVF accessible for same-sex couples. The minor party also wants to establish a national LGBTQI human rights commissioner to ensure the community has the legal protections it needs.
"The decision to establish this commissioner under the Human Rights Commission framework would be so that we have an institution outside the government that can hold government to account," Mr Bates said. "It's so that we can examine discrimination in our society, but also provide an avenue for people in the community to take grievances too so that we can address discrimination across all aspects of the law." With less than three weeks to go until the federal election on May 3, the Greens hope to hold the balance of power in a possible hung parliament.
However, Mr Bates faces a tight three-way contest with Labor and the Liberals in his Queensland seat of Brisbane, which he won in 2022. "We're hearing lots and lots of different issues in the community, but I think at the end of the day people in my electorate really don't want Peter Dutton to be the prime minister," he said. "But they're also thoroughly, thoroughly disappointed in the Albanese government .
.. they have lost their way (and) I don't think they know what they stand for anymore, other than trying to keep on winning elections.
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