ACON change for the positive

ACON change for the positive

ACON will draft a new constitution to encourage HIV positive people on to its board.

Staff members met last Wednesday to discuss plans to become an incorporated company, ACON Health Ltd, and re-work the organisation’s constitution.

ACON CEO Mark Orr said the new constitution would not change the type or level of services provided by ACON, but would provide a clearer context for our broader health agenda.

The old constitution allowed it, but this makes it explicit, he said.

The biggest changes will come at a board level. If the constitution is accepted by a majority of ACON members, board member terms will become two years instead of the current one year.

It will reduce the stress of having elections every year and ensure we keep people with business knowledge around.

The board will hold 14 directors and will allow for provisions to further involve HIV positive people with ACON’s management structure.

The organisation will aim to have at least two openly positive people on its board at any given time.
If this isn’t achieved through general elections, the board will have the power to actively seek out two self-declared positive people to join.

In this scenario, the two additional board members would only hold their title for 12 months before having to be officially voted in by ACON members.

ACON will this week send out notice of a special general meeting to all members. Seventy-five percent of members present at the meeting will need to agree in order to pass the motion to change the constitution.

info: A copy of the proposed constitution can be seen at ACON’s website, acon.org.au.

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6 responses to “ACON change for the positive”

  1. One of the most frequent claims made by AIDS “dissidents” is that gay men develop the symptoms of AIDS because (they claim) semen has a corrosive effect on the anal tract.

    In many, many cultures, prior to the introduction of condoms, anal sex was used by heterosexuals as a form of contraception. Please explain why there are no historical records of an AIDS-like illness appearing in any of these cultures.

  2. there is plenty of anti-hiv stress around in the gay community alone (ie gay against gay)to warrant this hypothesis!

  3. Michael I’m sure you’re being sincere, but please be aware that the conspiracy theorists you’ve been reading are pushing what are ultimately some pretty homophobic agendas.

  4. Hello,

    Please send a copy of this to the ACON and Bobby Goldsmith Foundation directors.

    My name is Michael. I just wanted to ask you something about Bobby Goldsmith. The BGF foundation webpage under “Who is Bobby Goldsmith” says that he was diagnosed as HIV in 1983, and died of “AIDS related complications in 1984.

    Could you please explain to me how he was diagnosed as HIV in 1983? I mean, after all, HIV was not even discovered until April 20th of 1984, shortly before Bobby passed in June.

    There were no tests even available in hospitals until late 1985, quite a while after Bobby died. It was not until March of 85 before the Australia blood supply was screened, and it was many months after that before doctors and hospitals had any HIV tests even available to them.

    And when saying that Bobby died of Aids related complications, just what does that mean? What was the exact cause of death?

    And did HIV actually kill Bobby, or did he simply make himself sick from the stress of being labeled as having AIDS? And did his doctors by any chance contribute to his death by overloading him with any type of medications?

    Please explain, because much of what is claimed about HIV and AIDS makes no sense to me and many others in the gay community at all. After all, the years of skyrocketing deaths in the US and Australia were the exact years 1987 to 1995 when high dosage AZT was given to every single HIV positive. Those who took it, lived an average of 8 months to 1-1/2 years on it. Death rates did not come down to todays levels until the medications became less toxic.

    Furthermore, it has been well proven that chronic stress, such as due to our inborn Fight or Flight mechanism, is well proven to cause suppression of the Thymus Gland resulting in a suppressed immune system, and suppressed T-cell count.

    I’ll bet you did not even know that the T in T cells stands for THYMUS. And I’ll bet you did not know that chronic stress alone is well proven to suppress it.

    So what really made Bobby Smith ill? Did HIV (that he may or may not have even had) have anything to do with it, or did he simply scare himself to death after he was given the deadly diagnosis?

    Truth, please,

  5. Even though 8,500 people are living with HIV in NSW (nearly equal to the entire male population of Surry Hills) and two from 8,500 doesn’t seem very many.

    This is a good move.

    I’d suggest it might be better if the wording is “at least” two candid HIV positive people etc…, which would encourage, but not limit more.

    I also think 14 directors is way too many for a community health promotion organisation the size of ACON. Six or seven should be plenty.

  6. I think its a great idea to have 2 HIV+ people on the board to counter claims not enough $’s are being injected back into this important part of our community.