OPPOSE CARNELL BUDGET OVER SAFE INJECTING ROOM

DAVE Rugendyke is to be commended for pledging that he will vote
against the ACT budget as long as it contains funding for the
controversial heroin injecting room planned by the Carnell government.
It is little short of blackmail for the Chief Minister and Health
Minister Michael Moore to declare that funding for the injecting room
is such an indispensable part of the budget that refusal to support it
will mean rejection of the budget as a whole, with the implied threat
that this could bring down the government. To their credit, Mr
Rugendyke and his independent colleague, Paul Osborne, have refused to
bow to these pressure tactics.

PETER TRICKETT
Fraser
petrick@mail.optusnet.com.au