Bill Bowtell
Acting
Biography
Bill Bowtell is Director of HIV/AIDS Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Sydney Australia. Bill Bowtell is a strategic policy adviser, with particular interest in national and international health policy structures and reform. He trained as a diplomat, with postings in Portugal, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe. As senior adviser to the Australian health minister, Bill Bowtell played a significant role in the introduction of the Medicare health insurance system (1984). He was an architect of Australia' successful and well-regarded response to HIV/AIDS. Between 1994 and 1996, Bill Bowtell was senior political adviser to the Prime Minister of Australia. He maintains a close interest in the potential impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the other communicable diseases, on the social, economic and political development of the Asia Pacific region.
Known For
Hosted by Hamish Macdonald, Q&A puts punters, pollies and pundits together in the studio to thrash out the hot issues of the week. It's about democracy in action - the audience gets to ask the questions.
Q&A
In 1982 a man walked into a Sydney hospital with fever, fatigue and sweats - the first person diagnosed with AIDS in Australia. Experts then predicted deaths on an extraordinary scale.