The WA AIDS Council acknowledges that past policies of removal of Aboriginal people from traditional lands, resettlement into townships with associated disruption of cultural ties and the bringing together of different tribal, language and skin groups that traditionally did not associate. The forced removal of children and other historical experiences of Aboriginal people has and will continue to have devastating effects on health, well-being, social and environmental issues.

February 13^th 2008 marked a historic day in the history of Australia when the 42^nd Australian Parliament made a formal apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and particularly to members of the Stolen Generations. The WA AIDS Council unreservedly endorses and supports the formal apology of the Australian Parliament and sees this as the first of many steps towards true reconciliation between the people of the first nations of Australia and those people who have come later.

The WA AIDS Council is committed to doing all it can to bridge the shameful differences in health status, morbidity and mortality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. It is committed to the provision of programs and services which aim to reduce the risk of Indigenous people acquiring HIV, sexually transmissible infection and blood borne viruses. It is committed to ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with HIV receive the treatment, care and support they need in order to enhance their lives. It is committed to working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in order to make a real difference in the health and well-being of all our communities.