Mr LIMBRICK (South Eastern Metropolitan) (12:38): Thank you, President. I appreciate your patience in allowing me to have another go at this unusual process.
My question is for Ms Patten, regarding item 170 on the notice paper. This refers to her motion concerning the medically supervised injecting room.
Given that this has been quite topical in the media recently and in the news a lot, I was wondering if Ms Patten could please inform the house of when she wants to bring this motion forward for debate.
Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:39): I thank Mr Limbrick for his question. It was an unexpected question that just came up today, due to Mr Bourman not being here today.
Dr Cumming interjected.
Ms PATTEN: I do appreciate this. I think that Mr Limbrick is absolutely right that there is a sense of urgency around the North Richmond supervised injecting room.
We have seen the huge success of the supervised injecting room in saving lives and putting people back onto a pathway for treatment.
I was in Richmond meeting with some of the people who are opposed to the centre on Wednesday. I spent 2 hours with them, walking around the precinct and talking to other residents in the area, and I can tell you that we need to continue this trial.
However, back to Mr Limbrick’s question, it was about when we would bring this motion on. There is more to be done down there; there is a lot more to be done. The amenity of the area can definitely be improved.
The supervised injecting room was never meant to be a silver bullet. There are more things that we can do to assist in that area. I am certainly aware of the run-down nature of some of the area there that should be improved, and I would urge the government to do this.
Also, we should be looking at other opioid replacement therapy trials there, such as hydromorphone, which is proving to be very successful in other supervised injecting rooms.
In answer to the question, we have just got the sitting dates for next year. As many members of this chamber understand, we on the crossbench get two spots a year to lead debate, to call these motions on.
I understand that we are just finalising the roster for the crossbenchers’ opportunities to lead debate, and I will be bringing this on in the first instance.
