A growing chasm between the NZ AIDS Foundation Board and its staff, and the job it was mandated to do, is one of the reasons the Board has found itself in a row with many of its stakeholders, says Bruce Kilmister of Body Positive Auckland. Kilmister says Body Positive Auckland, New Zealand's largest organisation of HIV positive people, applauds the proposal to return to a mandated two board positions for HIV positive people. However, he believes the 50% Maori membership quota proposal was an example of the current board losing its way and needing to get back to its core objectives. “The reason for its existence is to serve the prevention and education needs of men who have sex with men plus the HIV positive community in terms of care and support,” he says. “All governance should be directed towards those aspects.” Kilmister “At the coal face the Foundation instituted a number of regional consultations with the gay community and starting to build bridges with the positive community. I was absolutely heartened to see that happen, says kilmister who believes the Board should learn from that initiative.” While he believes the Foundation was for a time drifting away from its men who have sex with men constituents he also believes it has, since the most recent board appointments in April, been drifting away from the staff of the Foundation. "A chasm been growing in the last two or three months since the most recent appointments took new members onto the board."