From 2016 to 2025, the rate of HIV diagnoses reduced by 25 per cent, with three in every 100,000 Australians diagnosed with HIV in 2025 compared to one in four 10 years ago, data released on Tuesday revealed.Â
The Kirby Institute, at UNSW Sydney, maintains the national HIV registry and also publishes annual surveillance reports on HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
It estimated the results mean Australia had met its 95-95-95 global targets for reducing HIV - 95 per cent of people living with HIV diagnosed, 95 per cent of diagnosed receiving treatment, and 95 per cent achieving viral suppression.
This brings the nation closer to meeting the international target of ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030.
However, the data revealed a mixed picture with particular disparities in Indigenous communities.
The rate of HIV diagnoses is 1.9 times higher among First Nations people, reflecting the need to work closely with communities to ensure prevention, treatment and testing responses are appropriate, Kirby Institute epidemiologist Skye McGregor told a briefing.
First Nations communities recorded 37 HIV diagnoses in 2025, the second highest recorded in the past 10 years, with a rate of 3.9 per cent per 100,000 people compared to the 2.1 per cent rate for non-Indigenous populations.
Kirby Institute First Nations point-of-care program lead, Kim Gates, said there had been a stronger approach to testing from Aboriginal health services which may have led to higher rates.
"People living in remote communities do have poorer access to health services, so we still need to be ensuring that Aboriginal people are being screened at least twice a year for STIs," she said.
"I also think we really have a lot of work to do with healthcare workers."
She said health professionals were testing for HIV based on preconceived ideas about who was at risk, and stigma and discrimination must be addressed to provide more equitable access.
Chlamydia remained the most frequently diagnosed STI in Australia with about 94,000 diagnoses in 2025, followed by gonorrhoea at 42,000 and infectious syphilis at 6000.
While chlamydia rates were stable over the decade, gonorrhoea increased by 57 per cent and infectious syphilis by 56 per cent, with all three STIs recording higher rates in First Nations people.
There was also a substantial increase in syphilis among females over the decade - a 170 per cent rise in notifications among women compared to 39 per cent increase in men.
Forty babies died from congenital syphilis between 2016 and 2025, which occurs when the infection is passed from a pregnant person to their unborn baby, with 23 of those deaths in First Nations infants.
