The Australian Christian Lobby has accused Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews of breaking an election promise following the announcement that his government will move to establish a medically supervised drug injecting facility in Melbourne.
Dan Flynn, the ACL’s Victorian director, said the government’s priority should be to help rehabilitate addicts, not maintain their addiction.
“Monday’s decision by the Andrews government is in clear breach of a pre-election promise,” Mr Flynn said, noting that in 2014 the then ALP opposition had stated that they did not support the introduction of supervised injecting rooms.
“Offering drug-injecting rooms sends the wrong message to those dealing with drug addiction and young people that somehow the practice is safe and acceptable,” Mr Flynn said.
“Reduction in drug trafficking and drug related crime will only be achieved by rehabilitating addicts towards drug free status, not maintaining them in their addiction.”
Mr Flynn said the experience of an injecting room operating in King’s Cross, Sydney, had shown that drug usage largely remains “unsupervised and incredibly dangerous” and cited a 2010 KPMG report which he said was “careful not to attribute the saving of any lives to the clinic”.
Mr Andrews told media he had changed his mind about supporting a safe injecting room trial in inner Melbourne because rising overdose figures showed the current approach to the issue wasn’t working. Figures show that 34 people have died in a four-block area near Richmond’s Victoria Street in a 12 month period.
The State Government is proposing to hold a two year trial at the North Richmond Community Health facility which will commence in June, 2018.
