Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Production of documents

Melbourne medically supervised injecting facility

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan) (10:02): I move:

That this house:

(1) notes the failure of the Victorian government to release any report of the expert advisory panel led by former police commissioner Mr Ken Lay into a second medically supervised injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD;

(2) requires the Leader of the Government, in accordance with standing order 10.01, to table in the Council:

(a) by Wednesday 6 March 2024 a copy of Mr Lay’s final report into a second medically supervised injecting room handed to the office of the former Minister for Mental Health in the week beginning 29 May 2023;

(b) by Monday 18 March 2024 copies of:

(i) all drafts of Mr Lay’s report into a second medically supervised injecting room handed to the office of the current and each former minister for mental health and minister for health since October 2020;

(ii) all communications between the Department of Health and Mr Lay regarding the report and any related documents between January and September 2023; and

(iii) all briefings to the Minister for Mental Health and the Minister for Health regarding options for a second medically supervised injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD, since May 2020.

In 2020 the government committed to opening Victoria’s second supervised injecting room, honouring the recommendations of the Hamilton report and acknowledging the clear evidence that an overdose prevention service in the CBD will save lives. In 2020 the government established an expert advisory panel led by former police commissioner Ken Lay to write a report examining the effectiveness of medically supervised injecting rooms and the prospect of a supervised injecting room in the CBD. The panel undertook a rigorous process of examination and consultation, culminating in Mr Lay’s final report being given to the Minister for Mental Health in May 2023. But tragically this report has not been released publicly.

Let us put this in some context. The City of Melbourne has the highest number of heroin overdoses of any local government area in Victoria, with community health service Cohealth estimating an average of two people die every month from heroin overdoses. Heroin-related ambulance call-outs in the CBD are increasing, with 390 related call-outs in 2022, an increase of 28 per cent on the previous year. Nearly 12 per cent of all ambulance call-outs in the City of Melbourne are heroin related. We know, and the government knows from the North Richmond experience, that medically supervised injecting rooms not only save lives but provide a wraparound suite of services that provide addicted people with a road back to health, a road to security, a road back to life itself.

Last September, 20 of Victoria’s peak medical bodies and unions called on the government to urgently open a supervised injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD. This included the AMA, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Victorian Healthcare Association, the Health and Community Services Union and the Victorian Ambulance Union.

Premier Allan has committed this government to greater transparency, and that is to be applauded – genuinely applauded. Consistent with that commitment, this motion provides the government with the opportunity to walk the talk. Release the Lay report and related documents, and take the community into your trust. Lives literally depend upon it. I commend the motion to the Council.

Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (10:05): I am happy to rise and speak in this debate on Mr Ettershank’s documents motion. It is seeking a range of documents, but principally the Ken Lay report in relation to medically supervised injecting facilities. I have made contributions to this chamber in the year that I have been here, as have others, on just how important this issue is, how seriously the government takes the question of supporting injecting drug users and their health, because fundamentally this issue is about saving lives – improving health outcomes, supporting those with addiction and saving their lives.

I think what we have seen in the last few years since the first medically supervised injecting facility was opened in North Richmond is exactly that, and I will come back to that in just a second in the short contribution that I have got to make. I do note Mr Ettershank in his contribution and previously in other fora has shown a genuine concern about this issue, exhibits genuine compassion, which is in contrast occasionally to some of the contributions we have had from others in this debate who seek to resort to more political opportunism and scaremongering rather than focusing on the fundamental question and the fundamental issue, which is that serious issue about how to help some of the most vulnerable in our community with addiction and health concerns. They are serious issues, and they demand both serious attention and due consideration. They are not ones the government takes lightly or flippantly. They are not something you can just dip into lightly; you have got to seriously consider all of the issues. They demand thorough consideration. I think if you look at what we have been doing as a government over the last few years in relation to this issue, you will see how thorough and methodical we have been.

The first medically supervised injecting facility, in North Richmond, was established on a trial basis to see how it would go – so we could test the water and see this new form of treatment and harm reduction service for Victoria. There has obviously been something operating in New South Wales for a long time, but it was a new service in Victoria on a trial basis to see how it would go. The trial showed us it was incredibly successful. Some of the stats we have had: more than 7500 overdoses successfully and safely managed in the facility, 63 lives saved in North Richmond. More than that, and Mr Ettershank touched on this, it is not just preventing overdose, it is also the referral pathways that the service in North Richmond has been able to put people on. There have been 5500 referrals out of that service: GPs, dentists, housing, opioid replacement therapies, bloodborne treatments – that is what the benefit has been beyond just preventing overdose. It has been about getting people into the services that they need. That is incredibly important. It has worked well.

It has also had an effect on health services in the broader community by reducing ambulance call-outs and taking pressure off local hospitals. The trial was successful, so the government brought legislation into the Parliament, passed legislation in the Parliament, to make that first facility permanent, and did so in a considered and thoughtful way. It is the kind of approach we have taken in North Richmond – thinking about and considering the issues carefully and making sure we get it right is the approach the government is taking. The report that Mr Lay has prepared for us is, obviously, with the minister for consideration. In the form and manner in which the government normally considers motions like this from this Parliament requesting documents, I am sure the minister will carefully consider today’s motion as she continues to work hard on this incredibly important issue.

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (10:10): I am very pleased to speak on this motion today by Mr Ettershank. I would like to thank him for the discussions we have had on this motion and the way that we have collaboratively worked together across the chamber on this motion in order to get this motion right, because I think it is really important.

We are now running quickly up to about four years since the government commissioned this report. It is becoming a bit of a joke. We have heard several stories about drafts being handed back and rewritten. I think the Victorian public deserve to know what is in the report, what was in those drafts and the briefings the minister has had on it – or the several ministers for mental health have had on this. I would like to thank Mr Ettershank, because although we might disagree around the sides, in principle we are allies in our support for a medically supervised injecting room and the principle of medically supervised injecting rooms. We are indeed allies a whole bunch of issues. But the principle is the right one. While we might disagree on locations, I think getting this right, reading the report and getting the government to give up the report are really important.

I note with interest Mr Batchelor’s comments as well that the minister might take up this motion. I put a very similar motion last year, which the government furiously talked out and voted against, for documents for this. I think it is really, really important we see the briefings and we see the Lay report. I think it is important for the social licence for these kinds of injecting centres that the government is transparent with people. The perception is the government has got something to hide.

This is an area which is my electorate, and I speak to businesses all the time, I speak to locals all the time. I speak to Ha Nguyen, head of the Victoria Street Business Association – and I would just like to take a moment to acknowledge how great the Lunar New Year Festival was on Victoria Street the other day. If there is anything I can do in my time in Parliament, one of them is to make Victoria Street a place people drive to and travel to again, not just through, and I think a lot more can be done in terms of community safety and support for businesses surrounding the injecting room there. They have made it permanent there, sure, but we can definitely do better in supporting those businesses that are doing it really tough.

In terms of the CBD location, there are a number of people I have spoken to – countless businesses. Wayne Gatt, the Police Association Victoria secretary, said the top of Bourke Street and the CBD is in general the wrong place to put an injecting room and warned the injecting room could stretch police resources to an unsustainable level, impacting the safety of the area. I would be keen to read the report, because I think there are a number of options that we could go through. I in principle am not opposed to somewhere around the St Vincent’s district, perhaps where the previous sobering-up centre was, which would put it in a place that would be appropriate with the health supports. There is already an addiction clinic there. There are wraparound health services there.

I would be keen to see what Mr Lay has put forward – perhaps what Mr Lay has put forward and got told to rewrite. I would be very much interested in that, but also my constituents would be very much interested in that. I listen to them all the time. I have organised forums in Richmond right near the injecting room and have spoken to residents with completely different views. They know my view, that I am supportive of injecting rooms. I am not supportive of the Richmond location, but I am supportive of injecting rooms. Some of them disagree with me on that, but that is their right. Of course there are a lot of people that are very concerned about it being next to a school, obviously, and very concerned about antisocial behaviour. But in principle we should support this documents motion, and I again thank Mr Ettershank for putting it forward.

Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:15): I rise on behalf of my Greens colleagues in support of this short-form documents motion. This moment is very pressing. The Ken Lay report and the process that created this report are years overdue. This was a promise made under the former Premier that is yet to be fulfilled – that is, the delivery of a Melbourne supervised injecting facility. We have seen the data from the North Richmond site. We have seen a series of reviews that have indicated very strongly the benefit that supervised injecting offers to the broader community but particularly to those in the community who do use injectable drugs.

We need the latest data to have an informed conversation about this issue. What has happened up until now is that without the data that would be provided in this report there is speculation, there is fearmongering and there is an increasing stigma that has come to many in the community, particularly those who are quite vulnerable and who would benefit from the wraparound services that supervised injecting facilities provide. We know that based on data that is provided to everyone in this place, not just government, we need to have that informed conversation so that rooms are placed where they are needed. We know that in reality there are people in the Melbourne CBD who are using injectable drugs, are overdosing and are dying every month that we do not have access to this service. We know it is desperately needed. The community have been asking for this for so long.

There is a conversation about certainty for local business and amenity. That is part of the conversation, but the crucial thing here is this is severe. Lives are at risk every month that goes by without this service, and the years of delay – I shudder at the data on how many people have come to harm without access to supervised injecting in the City of Melbourne. We know that right across this state this is a conversation that we need to be having, and until we arrive at finally delivering that unfulfilled promise of a Melbourne supervised room we will not be able to progress that conversation. We desperately need to.

This issue, the issue of harm reduction when it comes to drug use, and we will get to this later with the subject of pill testing, should be above politics, because what will happen if we do not get this right is far too severe – that is, that people lose their lives and families are destroyed. The ripple effect that this has multigenerationally through the community is truly shocking. We need to be moving on this as a matter of priority.

We know that there was the courage of establishing the North Richmond room in years gone by. How many years have passed since then? The community has looked at the data from that and seen that this has worked; it is effective. We need to be having an informed conversation. We need to be moving forward, not sitting idly by. To be honest, I think what has happened – I have no doubt there are things going on behind the scenes – up until now is, at least in my opinion, in order to avoid a fear campaign, the data has been withheld until government can come forward with a decision. I can see the logic there; however, what we have seen in the absence of this data is a fear campaign, speculation and stigma to those in the community who are using injectable drugs and those who would seek to support them. We need to move forward with this. All parties in this chamber should have access to the best data so that we can have a proper debate about this issue to get it right. The Ken Lay report is so long overdue. I commend this motion to the house.

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:18): I also rise to share a few comments today on motion 311, which has been brought to us today by Mr Ettershank, and I thank him for doing so. I, like others, wish to briefly acknowledge his sincere passion on this issue and longstanding advocacy and indeed that of his party as well. The Ken Lay report is absolutely a very significant report that the government is rightly considering, and I acknowledge the extensive work that Minister Stitt is doing right now in engaging with that report and making sure that the government response that will be prepared for that report is as robust and as thorough as possible and actually answers to what that report calls for too.

As every member who has spoken has said, this is a very significant issue. I have spoken before about North Richmond. It was of course this Labor government that introduced the North Richmond medically supervised injecting centre – firstly, on a trial basis, and secondly, enshrined in legislation. In my previous career as a union organiser I did have the opportunity, having looked after stores in and around the Victoria Street precinct, to visit that centre and also to see the various other support services that are being offered in what for the workers, whether they are in the restaurants along Victoria Street or they are in stores that are adjacent to it, can present some very difficult challenges as well. It is why it is so good to see that medically supervised injecting room delivering genuine outcomes. Mr Batchelor I believe referred to the 63 lives that have been saved. That is phenomenal, 63 lives, and more than 7600 overdoses attended to just in that centre. This government has spoken very strongly in support of that program and in support of doing what we can to, obviously, expand this as well, but we need to do it right, and that is why we are taking the time to do this in a thorough and considered way.

I note, Mr Mulholland, it is very good to have at least in-principle support for the responsible expansion of medically supervised injecting rooms as well. I do have to say that when you were talking about quibbling over various locations I was wondering if I was going to hear the words ‘not in my backyard’ come out of your mouth. I felt like they were about to jump out at us all. It would have been one for the books if you had said that, Mr Mulholland. It did sound like distinct nimbyism both around North Richmond and prospective CBD sites that you referenced, but I do appreciate that from your side of the house too we do at least have in-principle support for responsible expansion of these medically supervised injecting rooms. I hope you will talk to your perhaps wayward colleagues, such as Mr McGowan, who has spoken out against this life-saving program. I hope you will be able to convince your colleagues to back you in that as well.

This, as I say, is a hugely significant issue, and as Mr Batchelor said, 63 lives have been saved, and that is something that we really, really do need to actually stop and consider and say how profound this is. I note Mr Puglielli’s passion as well on this and appreciate your comments. I would just say it is so important, for the reasons that you have said, that we do get this right, and that is why I know that the minister is looking at this most attentively.

Motion agreed to.