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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1154 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

relation to alcohol and drug problems. This is an area that I do not believe we in the ACT have directed significant resources or attention to. It is, I believe, a seriously unmet need within the provision of drug services in Canberra. I would hope that we in the ACT can find our way to providing additional resources and attention to this area. I commend it as an area that I believe the Minister does need to personally address.

Mr Moore: Are you talking about the broad Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander?

MR STANHOPE: Yes, just the broad Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. I believe it is a recognised area of unmet need in the ACT, and I believe it has now moved to the top of the list of priorities in terms of gaps in the ACT.

The prioritisation and efficient use of resources are essential in all areas of government, and funding drug programs is no exception. The recent media hype surrounding proposed heroin trials seems to have shifted the focus away from providing sufficient educational programs, treatment centres and improved access to alternative treatments. While we do not discount the possibility of a heroin trial, and my colleague Mr Berry spoke of this just a minute ago, the Labor Party believes there are priority programs which must be sufficiently resourced before we begin to debate the merits of a heroin trial.

At the moment the Liberal Party's rank and file, it must be said, are having trouble coming to terms with the proposed safe injecting place trial, and I stress the word "trial". It would certainly appear that Mr Moore is not through the woods yet with this proposal. As we heard last week, rank and file Liberal Party members have passed a resolution calling on the parliamentary party to take no further action on the matter without a referendum. It is amazing to me and to many others in the community that Mrs Carnell continues to loudly canvass that proposal without substantial or perhaps any backing from her own party. That does leave us to ask the question, having regard to the anarchy within the Government on drugs issues: What other parts of Mr Moore's policies in relation to drugs will suffer similar censure from the Liberal Party party room and from the Liberal Party itself? (Extension of time granted)

The Assembly would be aware that the Labor Party supports the implementation of a safe injecting room, provided the surrounding substantial legal issues are adequately addressed. Furthermore, we would need to be assured that funding for the trial is not drawn from existing health budgets. Additionally, there must be adequate planning and ongoing consultation with community stakeholders, including not only the shop owners and other particularly affected residents but also the police and the DPP.

There are a number of issues that we believe still need to be settled. We look forward to being part of a continuing debate on the issue of a safe injecting place and are happy to work with the Minister to see whether or not the remaining problems, as we see them, can be resolved. We should also add that there must be in place a suitable mechanism to ensure a comprehensive evaluation and analysis of the trial during its operation and once it is completed.

As the Labor Party and the Greens MLA, Ms Tucker, noted, the safe injecting place must not, however, be singled out as an individual priority but must be part of a broader drug strategy. It is not the only priority and it is not the highest priority in the drug strategy,

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