A cruel irony has developed for people living with HIV in Australia. Most community- based AIDS organizations have a policy of affirmative action to employ people with HIV, in line with Australia's National HIV/AIDS Strategy. This recognizes the central role of people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs) in responding to the epidemic. Since February 1995, however, AIDS organizations have become the least attractive workplaces for PHAs because all new staff are required to undertake HIV tests to screen them out of superannuation (retirement savings schemes). They are not eligible for death and disability benefits for AIDS-related conditions.

HESTA justifies the new policy by claiming that the death and disability insurance of the rest of its members was being threatened by the large number of AIDS-related claims from AIDS organizations. HESTA members in non-AIDS-related organizations are not screened. The legal loophole in Australia's Disability Discrimination Act that allows HESTA to discriminate is a clause permitting discrimination where there exists "actuarial or statistical evidence on which it is reasonable...to rely". HESTA commissioned a report in late 1994 from an insurance consultant that purportedly provides such data and justifies the screening in order to protect overall insurability of the scheme.

Insurance companies operate by spreading risk. Individuals seeking death and disability benefits are rejected if they have pre-existing medical conditions such as cancer, heart disease or HIV/AIDS. But most industry superannuation funds, including HESTA, provide death and disability benefits through group insurance contracts with insurance companies, in other words pooling risks. Individuals are automatically entitled to the benefits without medical examination and regardless of their state of health when they join. Premiums and benefits are set at levels based on actuarial data to ensure that over the entire, large group insured, individual benefits through death, accident or illness can be met.

Superannuation funds and insurers in general became worried that AIDS claims would escalate so much that benefits would not be sustainable at existing levels. However, this has not materialized over the insurance industry as a whole, only with respect to claims from AIDS organizations themselves because of their affirmative action policy. HESTA recognizes the problem and suggests that the government should assist in meeting the costs.

AIDS organizations are publicizing the issue widely and have met with government ministers who have expressed concern about the situation and that similar problems could also arise regarding disability organizations employing people with disabilities. The AIDS organizations are not requesting new rights but what has already been agreed upon in Australian society: everyone is entitled to a "safety net". As a consequence, the government has commissioned an independent actuary to study the problem of access to superannuation disability benefits for all people with disabilities, including people living with HIV/AIDS, and to propose options to ensure all workers have access to these important benefits. This is likely to be a long-term process.