Tuesday, 2 August 2022

Melbourne medically supervised injecting facility

Ms CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (19:45): (2023) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Health, and it is in relation to the second injecting room and the refusal of the Andrews government to release the Lay report. Reports today—

Mr Leane: Scaremongering now?

Ms CROZIER: I take up the interjection. This is a serious issue. As we know, the amenity around North Richmond has been incredibly impacted. There has been drug dealing in the North Richmond injecting room by staff. There has been dealing in the schoolyard. There have been overdoses in the community. Children have had to put up with antisocial behaviour. There have been large amounts of drugs found outside houses just 100 metres from the school. This is a serious issue, and the government is planning a second injecting room. We know that because the sector is openly talking about it, but the government will not release the report. So it is not scaremongering, Mr Leane, it is a fact.

Mr Leane interjected.

Ms CROZIER: It is not scaremongering.

Members interjecting.

The PRESIDENT: Order! Ms Crozier to continue without interjection.

Ms CROZIER: I know this issue is very sensitive to Mr Leane and his government because of the ongoing secrecy of the government, which will not release this report. It was commissioned years ago. It was due out 18 months ago, and yet today we have got the minister saying that she has not seen the report:

I’m not aware of the status of the report so I’m not in a position to make any commitments …

But:

I’ve had a conversation with Ken Lay in relation to this review and we will continue to work with him and his findings …

So which bit is it? This is absolutely the government again hiding the truth from Victorians, and I think Victorians are sick to death of this government obfuscating and denying what is going on. Why won’t they release this report? Victorians deserve to understand where this second injecting room is going. That is what you are doing, because the sector are saying they are already working on the services that it is going to provide. Businesses in the CBD and residents who live in the CBD deserve to understand what the intentions of the government are now, not after an election. You are so arrogant. You will not release this report. It needs to be released. It needs to be released this week, not hidden—

Dr Bach: At least read by the minister.

Ms CROZIER: At least read by the minister—she has not read it. She is struggling in her portfolio, let us face it. So the action I seek from the minister is that this report be immediately released in the interests of transparency and for Victorians to understand where the second injecting room is going.