Ms PATTEN — I rise to thank the 48 individual signatories for their open letter in support of a medically supervised injecting centre trial published in today’s Herald Sun. I also would like to thank the Chief Commissioner of Police, Graham Ashton, who this morning announced on radio that if a medically safe injecting centre was to become government policy, he would support it.
Right now, people are injecting drugs on the streets, in car parks, doorways, lanes and toilets, and on Monday I saw someone openly injecting. A medically supervised injecting centre would clean up our streets. This is about law and order as well as saving lives. This leaves the police to be able to attack and catch the perpetrators, not the victims.
I would like to thank some of the authors of the letter for their support: Laurence Alvis, CEO, UnitingCare ReGen; Dr Simon Judkins, clinical director, emergency department, Austin Health; Dr Cameron Loy, chair, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Victoria; Paul McDonald, CEO, Anglicare; Michael Moore, World Federation of Public Health Associations; Bernie Geary, AO; and Dr Mike McDonough, head of unit, addiction medicine, Western Health.
