Wednesday, 3 June 2026

 Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Government Services, Special Minister of State, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Multicultural and Multifaith Victoria) (12:45): Last week Victoria took another important step forward in helping prevent overdose deaths with the launch of Australia’s first naloxone dispensing machine. I was joined by my colleagues in this place Mr Berger and Mr Batchelor and our colleague from the other place the member for Albert Park Nina Taylor MP in launching the machine at the Alfred hospital. It is one of 20 to be rolled out across Victoria. These machines will provide free naloxone 24 hours a day, seven days a week, helping put life-saving medication into more homes, handbags, glove boxes and communities across Victoria.

Naloxone can temporarily reverse an overdose and give someone critical time while emergency services are on the way. It saves lives, and the reason we are doing this is clear: too many Victorians are dying from preventable overdose. Heroin accounted for more than half of those deaths, while pharmaceutical opioids like oxycodone and fentanyl were involved in more than a third. And we are seeing more potent synthetic opioids appearing in substances like cocaine, ketamine and MDMA. That is why the machines are so important. They are breaking down barriers to access to make sure that Victorians have the tools they need to respond quickly in an emergency. Just since Friday 60 units have been dispensed at the Alfred machine, with 60 per cent of these transactions occurring outside of business hours and more than 30 people indicating it was their first time accessing naloxone.

Our government has proudly taken a harm-reduction approach to drug harm, and I want to acknowledge the frontline workers who support Victorians every day with compassion and dignity, including Megan McKechnie, Christopher Darwin and the whole team at the Alfred. This trial is another important step forward to providing practical evidence-based action to save lives.