But Health Minister Cameron Dick said the HIV Foundation Queensland, which was established in 2014, added costs to work already undertaken by government services.

HIV Foundation Queensland chairman Darren Russell said Queensland Health data showed there were 94 new cases in Brisbane in 2016, the first time there were less than 100 infections since 2008, when the same number of people were infected.

It was also a 38.16 per cent decrease from the recent high of 152, reported in 2014.

Dr Russell said he hoped that gave Mr Dick pause for thought ahead of June, when the HIV Foundation's government funding would dry up.

"The foundation has a dedicated board and operational team that have worked passionately and leading the implementation of Queensland's HIV strategy over the past three years and many of the essential and innovative building blocks are now in place," he said.

"Whilst the minister has announced the formation of a new sexual health ministerial advisory committee, at this stage of the HIV response what is required is effective implementation like we have now.

"It remains to be seen just how this is going to happen after June 2017."

Mr Dick said the HIV Foundation was "unusual" in that it was not set up in support of a hospital and the government's funding would be better directed towards community-based groups.

"No other foundation in Queensland relies on government as its sole source of funding," he said.

"As part of its agreement with the Department of Health, the foundation has an obligation to secure private donations and have not met that obligation.

"The foundation does not directly deliver any services but contracts service delivery out to external organisations, adding extra costs to a function already performed by the department.

"This is an inefficient way for a government to deliver health services."

Mr Dick said established best practice showed governmental partnerships with community groups were the best way to combat HIV.

"That is why, on World AIDS Day last year, I announced $35 million over four years in direct funding to community groups working to prevent the spread of HIV and other STIs, right across Queensland," he said.

"This funding certainty will allow community groups and the government to work more strategically towards eliminating HIV transmissions and improve the health of all Queenslanders."

For Dr Russell, though, the proof was in the pudding.

"We've increased testing by about 50 per cent in gay men over the last two years, so we're testing a lot more, but we're finding a lot less," he said.

"Also, gonorrhoea in Brisbane, which is nearly all gay men, gonorrhoea rates have gone up 58 per cent in two years and syphilis rates have gone up 60 per cent in two years.

"You've got these other sexually transmitted infections increasing dramatically, yet HIV has dropped a lot.

"So given that we're testing more and that the total population's increased as well, and that other STIs are all up and the only thing that's down is HIV infection, we think on the basis of that it's a really true result."

Mr Dick said while it was "great" to see the reduction of cases in the Brisbane metropolitan area, more work needed to be done if the Palaszczuk government worked towards the "virtual elimination of new HIV transmissions in Queensland by 2020".

To that end, Mr Dick said the government had:

• restored $13.2 million in funding for the Biala Sexual Health Clinic;
• increased its support to groups such as the Queensland AIDS Council, the Ethnic Communities Council and Queensland Positive People through a four-year, $35 million package;
• launched a $5.3 million Queensland sexual health strategy, which Mr Dick said was the "first of its kind" in Australia;
• launched a $15.7 million north Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sexually transmissible infections action plan;
• standardised the age of consent so young Queenslanders could access sexual health information from their GPs;
• supported the implementation of "treatment as prevention"; and
• made up to 2000 positions available for PrEP (pre-exposure propylaxis – a pill-based treatment to prevent HIV infection) across the state at a cost of $6 million.

Regardless of the politics involved in the HIV Foundation funding, Dr Russell said the prospects for HIV-positive people had improved markedly since he first entered the field in 1990.

"Initially, it was really about trying to keep people alive as long as possible and, as a doctor, I was working at helping people have a good death through palliative care and so on," he said.

"And then in 1996, we got the new treatments which saved lives – people did a Lazarus and rose from their deathbeds.

"Year on year, there's been an improvement, but prevention was just about condoms until 2008 or so we started getting interested in treatment as prevention.

"So if you had HIV, you'd get treatment and wouldn't pass it on and in 2012 were the first studies showing the effectiveness of PrEP."

State opposition health spokesman John-Paul Langbroek said the LNP set up the HIV Foundation with the aim of "drastically" reducing notification rates.

"This combination of extra funding, greater education and more testing has led to exceptional results," he said.

"Our strategy has had an enormous impact on peoples' lives, with Queensland now leading the way when it comes to reducing HIV notifications."