Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:23): I am pleased to update the house on the Allan Labor government’s pill-testing trial. The first reports are in from our fixed site in Fitzroy, and the results are clear. The fixed site is saving lives and providing critical drug-monitoring data. In the first six weeks of operation more than 500 samples were tested, with the service conducting harm reduction conversations with nearly 300 people. For one in four service users this was the first conversation they had had about substance use with a health professional. Importantly, while most samples contained the expected drug, one in eight contained an unexpected psychoactive. Two drug notifications were issued for counterfeit oxycodone pills containing nitazenes, a synthetic drug up to 500 times stronger than heroin. In an increasingly volatile and unpredictable drug market this information has never been more important.

Last week I was pleased to announce the first three events of the summer festival period that will host the mobile pill-testing service. The Victorian pill-testing service will be available at Spilt Milk, Dangerous Goods 6XXL and the Pitch Music & Arts festival from 6 to 10 March, with further events to be announced soon. To ensure that more Victorians can access confidential health information we are expanding the hours at our fixed site in Fitzroy for the holiday period. From 1 December the fixed site will operate with extended hours on Thursday and Friday, and it will be open additional days ahead of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

No drug is ever truly safe, but Victorians deserve to have all the information possible to help them make better, safer and more informed decisions, and that is what we will be providing this summer at our pill-testing fixed site and at events across the state.