As a gay, HIV-positive, Indigenous man Jacob Boehme has experienced discrimination in many forms.
He says one need only log-on, to see it.
"You only have to go on social media, gay dating apps to find exactly what sort of discrimination and stigma is still out there."
Diagnosed with HIV in 1998, dance and performance became an outlet to cope with the obstacles life was presenting.
"It can't be determined by the gay white boys club, sitting around, nutting out how they're going to engage with people of colour."
Next month he'll prepare to tell his story on stage in his latest performance piece: Blood on the Dance Floor, as part of the Sydney Festival.
He hopes to inspire other HIV-positive Indigenous men to become part of the discussion on preventing HIV transmission for Aboriginal Australians.
"It can't be determined by the gay white boys club, sitting around, nutting out how they're going to engage with people of colour," he said.
And the timing is critical.
the rate of HIV notification among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is now more than double the non-Indigenous rate.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the government cannot ignore the issue.
"While HIV rates have been stable in non-Indigenous people they have been increasing in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, and we can't turn a blind eye."
The majority of those transmissions are coming from unprotected sex between men, but transmission rates are also higher in the Indigenous communities through means such as intravenous drug use and heterosexual sex.
Health minister Sussan Ley said Indigenous Australia is feeling the "burden" of the nation's HIV epidemic.
"The burden of HIV falls most unfairly on our first Australians where the incidence is almost twice that and completely out of proportion of non-Indigenous Australia."
In contrast, overall figures out of NSW show a 20 per cent reduction in new HIV diagnoses from July to September this year, compared with the previous year.
It's a success the government hopes to replicate around the country, with Australia's biggest hope in fighting the HIV epidemic - Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis - or PrEP.
World Aids Day flag Source: SBS
As the country works towards the goal of a zero transmission rate by 2020, PrEP trials are being expanded into regional Victoria and South Australia.
CEO of HIV awareness group ACON Nicolas Parkhill said the drug is key to eradicating the disease.
"The more access we can give to PrEP that's afforable and easy to get our hands on, the more effective it will be in driving down infection rates."
It's a goal shared by researchers in South Africa, who have this week launched a landmark trial of an HIV vaccine.
The trial, known as HVTN 702, will build on a 2009 study in Thailand that was found to be 31.2 percent effective at preventing HIV infection over the three and a half years of follow-up after the vaccination.
It will eventually enrol 5,400 sexually active men and women aged between 18 and 35 at 15 sites across South Africa.
"We now have evidence that a vaccine can work, many people in the world have said you will never get a vaccine against HIV, there are many skeptics in the world."
It will be the largest, most advanced HIV vaccine clinical trial in the history of the country, where more than 1,000 people a day are infected with HIV.
Professor Linda-Gail Bekker of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre said even a moderately effective vaccine would significantly decrease the burden of HIV.
"We now have evidence that a vaccine can work, many people in the world have said you will never get a vaccine against HIV, there are many skeptics in the world."
When the trial concludes in 2020, it's hoped she'll have proved the skeptics wrong.
