FLINDERS ST DRUG SHAME

Melbourne'S Famous Flinders St Station Has Become A Haven For Drug Addicts
And Pushers.

The station's toilets have become shooting galleries for heroin users.

And Transport Minister Robin Cooper admits he would have to be desperate to
venture into them.

Used syringes, needle caps and empty condom packets litter the station and
surrounding area, especially the riverside walkway beside platforms 12 and 13.

Some have spilled into the drains that feed the Yarra River.

Despite a strong police presence and a $400,000 upgrade of the station's
century-old toilets, it remains a popular spot for addicts to congregate.

Worse still, the decrepit Elizabeth St underpass considered the city gateway
to the Southbank's popular tourist strip is an eyesore.

The ceramic-tiled walls of the underpass are stained brown by leaking
groundwater and tiles have fallen off in some parts.

Mr Cooper said efforts to clean up the station were complicated by its
heritage listing. He admitted the drug problem was serious but said the
number of closed-circuit cameras would soon be increased from 140 to 162.

Mr Cooper said $30 million had been spent fixing the station since 1997
$100,000 on tiling in the toilets alone.

"Our problem with the Elizabeth St underpass, for example, is that Heritage
Victoria and the National Trust are involved," he said.

"Those tiles with 'Do not spit' on some of them, you can't touch them.

"And the pressed metal ceiling, which is unbelievable, cannot be touched.

"We are upgrading the toilets but I'd have to be desperate to go in there
even when they are upgraded."

Mr Cooper said ultra-violet fluorescent lights would be put in the station's
public toilets to stop addicts using them to inject.

"But I don't know whether (addicts) even bother going to the toilets at
Flinders St, they just shoot up in the concourse," he said.

When the Herald Sun visited the recently refurbished public toilets at the
station's Flinders St end there was no evidence of blue lights.

A cleaner was busy sweeping a syringe wrapper from a cubicle floor.

Cubicles in the new, brightly lit toilets are still being used as makeshift
shooting galleries.

Scores of syringes are collected from toilet floors every week, as evidenced
by a sharps box full of syringes shown to the Herald Sun.

And workers refurbishing the once-ornate granite toilets in the Elizabeth St
underpass have been forced to lock them to stop desperate addicts entering.

Some heroin users have risked the health of commuters by jamming used
syringes into toilet rolls.

A station source said the drug problem at Flinders St Station had worsened
over the past few years.

The source said he was surprised the toilet refurbishment did not included
blue lights.

"They've put in bright lights so the druggies can find their veins easier,
it seems," he said.

Mr Cooper said the government would do what it could within heritage
restrictions to upgrade the station.

"I've had letters from people saying 'For God's sake do something about
it'," he said.

But any alteration or refurbishment must be passed by Heritage Victoria.

The station is listed on the National Estate Register and protected under
the Victorian Heritage Register.

Heritage Victoria spokeswoman Lisa Vagg said: "Flinders St Station is one of
Melbourne's great icons.

"The subway is important as an original and essentially intact element, with
drawings of it dating from 1901.

"Heritage Victoria issued permits last year for the total refurbishment of
the subway toilets including new tiling to match the original but retaining
the significant 'sign' tiles."

Signs in the subway such as "Do not spit on walls or stairs" were considered
culturally significant, as was the troughed zinc and embossed steel roof,
she said.

Work on the station building began in 1900 after a design competition in
1899. Its design was described by its architects as "French Renaissance in a
free manner".