New South Wales has a new Public Health Act starting today, with a small but important change in the way the Act deals with HIV.
The revised Act was passed by the previous Labor government, but has been waiting for gazettal for the last two years. NSW is one of two states in Australia (the other is Tasmania) that legally mandate HIV disclosure before sex, and the changes to the Act provide a new defence to prosecution for non-disclosure if the HIV-positive person can show they took ‘reasonable precautions’ to prevent transmission.