Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:30): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Last year in an answer to a question about the Richmond injecting room you told this place:

… we continue to engage with the North Richmond community … but also through the $13 million of investment that we have made to the safety and amenity upgrades in that precinct. That has included improved CCTV coverage …

Yet the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing now says cameras in this area were decommissioned in 2021. That was five years ago. Why did you mislead the house on the improved CCTV in the North Richmond precinct?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence) (12:31): I thank Ms Crozier for her question, and I absolutely reject the premise of her question. We have been working very closely and very hard across not just my portfolio but other portfolios as well to make sure that the North Richmond housing precinct has the support that it needs, particularly when it comes to amenity and when it comes to security. We have made significant investments around not only security across that housing estate but also in the vicinity of the medically supervised injecting room.

It is of course worth noting that the opposition have taken every opportunity to run down this important health service. This is a service that has saved lives and has avoided thousands and thousands of overdoses. I reject the premise of Ms Crozier’s question, because really it is all about punching down on the most vulnerable people in our community, and there seems to be a bit of a theme around that today in their questions in QT.

What I will say is that our government will continue to work closely with the medically supervised injecting room and with the North Richmond Community Health service, because we know that the services that they provide some of the most vulnerable in our community are absolutely critical, and we also know that the community understand the importance of these services. We have a really strong engagement between the MSIR, the community health service and the local residents of the housing estate and the immediate area. We continue to engage regularly. Most of the agencies that are involved in crisis response around that part of Richmond are also involved in that committee. That is the place, frankly, where issues are dealt with and where solutions are sought across the community. I am proud of the work that that group is doing, because it is all about making sure that when there are issues on the precinct they are dealt with in a way that continues to have a sharp focus on safety and amenity for the whole community.

So I reject the premise of Ms Crozier’s question, and I do note that none of the approaches of those opposite are about the health and wellbeing of anybody who uses that facility in North Richmond.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:33): I note the minister’s answer again, and she is extremely defensive. She keeps attacking the opposition. We have a right to ask questions on behalf of the community, Minister, and we will continue to do so. Whether you reject the premise of the question or not, I am not interested; I just want a decent answer from you, so let us try again. Minister, the CCTV cameras were installed by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing ‘to support the security and safety of residents’. Lennox Street residents recently witnessed another violent attack outside the injecting room, where a woman was punched in the face by a man, then mauled by his dog. The incident was not captured on CCTV because the cameras were not working. You said measures to improve the safety and security of residents included CCTV. When were you first briefed that the CCTV was not working?

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence) (12:34): I thank Ms Crozier for her supplementary question. I have already said that I reject the premise of the question, and that is because the facts are wrong – basically, you are wrong. The information you have is incorrect. The cameras have not been offline. The advice that I have is that there are several cameras that cover the North Richmond Community Health service and that all cameras operating in the North Richmond Community Health site are currently operating and none have been offline. I really question the motive behind Ms Crozier’s line of questioning here, when the basic facts cannot actually stand up to any scrutiny.