Thursday, 9 March 2023

International Family Drug Support Day

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51): Last week I had the privilege of attending International Family Drug Support Day, an event here at Parliament House.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! I am on my feet! The next person that yells something is going to have an early morning tea, seriously. We need to respect the member who has the call. I want Mr Puglielli to have his members statement. I want the time reinstated so he has got 90 seconds, and he has the right to be heard in silence.

Aiv PUGLIELLI: Thank you, President, and I thank the chamber. Last week I had the privilege of attending an International Family Drug Support Day event here at Parliament along with fellow member Mr Limbrick and my colleague in the other place Dr Tim Read. Every year on 24 February family members around the world come together to share their stories and break through the stigma around people who use drugs. This is International Family Drug Support Day’s eighth year, and the chorus of voices demanding evidence-based drug policy grows louder and more insistent.

At the event we heard some incredible stories. We heard from family members, from advocates and volunteers, from people working in recovery services and from people who have experienced drug dependency themselves. With such a diverse range of experiences represented, it was remarkable to me that there was one thing that everyone in the room could agree on: the current punitive approach to drug policy here in this state just is not working. Criminalising people who use drugs puts them in legal and financial strife and does nothing to improve their health outcomes.

This year the event had two themes: the first, ‘Support the family, improve the outcome’, the second, ‘Harm reduction helps keep everyone safe’. Members of this chamber have a responsibility to listen to this community and listen to people who have direct contact with the system that is shaped by the decisions in this place. I would like to thank the staff at Family Drug Support and all the speakers on the day for their work.