Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Medically supervised injecting facilities

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:10): (494) My question is for the Minister for Mental Health. Ken Lay’s report details an extraordinarily thorough, nuanced and robust investigation regarding a second medically supervised injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD. Balancing the various views and concerns, Ken Lay found:

… there is a continuing and clear need to establish a supervised injecting service trial in the City of Melbourne.

His primary recommendation was to establish another medically supervised injecting facility trial. Why did your government choose to ignore the key recommendation of the Lay report by completely ruling out a second medically supervised injecting room?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:11): I thank Dr Mansfield for her question. Of course these are difficult and complex issues, and I do want at the outset to thank Ken Lay for the important work that he did over a period of time. We know that it was needed – we needed to actually extend the work that Ken Lay did as a result of some of the impacts on our CBD that the pandemic had and what that was doing in terms of some of the patterns of drug use and needs in the CBD. There is absolutely no question and the government completely accepts that there are significant needs in the CBD when it comes to supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our community. But the reality is that over a significant period of time the government looked at a number of different locations to possibly house a second injecting service in the city and was unable to find a location that fitted the needs of those who use drugs in the CBD, particularly heroin and ice, and the broader CBD community. That was certainly outlined in Ken Lay’s report. He called out that there was significant division within the CBD community around these issues.

The government has announced – I announced it with the Premier last week – a significant package of supports, a statewide plan to tackle some of the AOD harms in our community. We know that the CBD has got particular needs, and that is why we have announced a significant package to go to those issues. We will be establishing a dedicated CBD community health hub that will provide wraparound services for those who are struggling with opioid addiction so they can get the support they need and they can actually access appropriate treatment options and break that cycle of addiction but also to connect them into other vital services that they need. We know that in many cases those who are struggling with opioid addiction have also got other issues going on in their lives that require that wraparound support.

Importantly, we have also given a commitment to significantly enhancing our outreach services in the CBD, delivered through a very trusted partner in this space, Cohealth, who will be significantly boosting the number of outreach services so that 365 days of the year there will be teams working with some of the most vulnerable in our community. I am proud that our government has announced that we will establish Victoria’s first hydromorphone trial at that hub.

Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (12:14): I thank the minister for her response. You are telling us about all these other things you are doing, and that is great – they are well overdue – but the key recommendation was for a supervised injecting facility. In 2018 the government showed real leadership in establishing the North Richmond site, despite very similar criticisms from some quarters, because the potential to save lives was seen as more important. To quote the then Premier:

There can be no rehabilitation if you are dead …

… if you can get, in the event you need, the urgent health care that saves lives … that surely, on any measure, is a better outcome than seeing that death toll go up and up.

Minister, if you stand by the North Richmond site as a life-saving service, how high does the overdose death toll have to get in the CBD for the government to establish a service there?

Ingrid STITT (Western Metropolitan – Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (12:15): I thank Dr Mansfield for her supplementary question. I want to make it really clear that the government absolutely stands by the decision to have the North Richmond MSIR facility. We backed that in then and we are going to back it in now because it is a life-saving service. It has saved over 63 lives and it has prevented over 8000 overdoses in the time that it has been operating.

The reality is that the other great powerful initiative of this service is the number of referrals to other services to help people turn their lives around. What I announced with the Premier last week is a comprehensive statewide action plan which incorporates the North Richmond medically supervised injecting room at its heart.