OPPOSITION SWOOPS ON ERROR

An error made in the production of a State Government report, which
outlines the legislative requirements for selecting a site for a supervised
injecting room, was seized on by the opposition yesterday.

Opposition health spokesman Robert Doyle said the Penington recommendations
had disappeared from the final report and opened the way for Wesley City
Mission to become an acceptable facility.

He said it was a major concern of the opposition that the
site-identification criteria had removed the following conditions: that the
site should not be separated from an area of drug use by a major traffic
thoroughfare and that it not be on a major trading thoroughfare.

Dr David Penington last night told The Age the report had intended to
remove the condition that a traffic thoroughfare should not separate an
area currently used by drug users for greater flexibility in site
selection. It was a typographical mistake that removed the reference to a
major trading area.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister John Thwaites said the error would be
corrected.