MAYORAL VIEWS ON SUPERVISED INJECTING ROOMS

Cr Peter Costigan

Mayor of City of Melbourne

(CBD, Carlton, North Melbourne, Southbank)

`I would argue and do my best when the appropriate moment comes to
persuade the council, and I am just one of nine, to give this a trial.
They are all very sensible and all very humane recommendations.

I think the public want to and are quite prepared to have a trial,
which was something a couple of years ago that most of us would not
have agreed with.

Personally I would be surprised if there was a need for more than one
injecting facility. It may well (be) that Melbourne turns out not to
be an appropriate place in the overall scheme (for an injecting room).
The question then is if we do decide to go ahead with an injecting
room in the boundaries of the City of Melbourne, where will it be?'

Cr John Phillips

Mayor of City of Yarra

(Collingwood, Fitzroy, Richmond)

`We are very supportive of the State Government initiative and we're
supportive of the Penington committee's recommendations.

I think our community has got a high level of knowledge about what
this is all about and it's not some magical solution to the drug
trade. It's about getting drug activity off our streets, saving
peoples' lives and, for traders, it is getting an unacceptable
activity out of their trading area.

There are general and very commonsense principles about how selecting
a site might take place. There is clearly a difficult and delicate
balance between selecting a suitable location that is relevant to drug
users and one that is well away from sensitive public places.

No one's saying put it in a retail strip and it is only a trial. Over
the next two to three months we'll be looking at criteria for the
site.' Cr Gerard White

Mayor of Maribynong City Council

(Footscray, Braybrook, Yarraville)

`We don't have a yes or no answer to going ahead with an injecting
facility as outlined in the report but the report does gives us a
framework to take to our community to gain its opinion.

We need to go out and find out what our community understands of the
issue.

We can't even talk about a site until we decide if that is the way
forward. An injecting facility is not the whole answer and can
potentially be none of the answer for Footscray.

We need to look at a drug package, a range of things that can be
implemented.

I haven't made a decision either way on a personal level.'Cr Angela
Long

Mayor of City of Greater Dandenong

(Dandenong, Springvale, Noble Park)

`The City of Greater Dandenong will not make any decision whether to
support or reject the trial of an injecting facility until it has
fully considered information from the Drug Policy Expert Committee and
the views of the community.

Councils and the general public need as much information as possible
in order to understand the complex issues related to illicit drug use
and its impact on the community.

We are holding workshops and a public meeting for the community to ask
questions and make its views known.

I am waiting to see what my residents say before I make my own
personal decision on the matter.'

Mayor of City of Port Phillip

(St Kilda, South Melbourne, Albert Park)

`The Penington Report has come not a moment too soon for the City of
Port Phillip. It's not exactly a surprise; we have been saying this
since May 1999.

I can't pre-empt the genuine consultation that will occur and guess an
address. It's true some businesses in shopping centres like Fitzroy
Street are nervous about where such a facility will be situated.

The trial of injecting facilities proposed in the report will be a
welcome start to saving lives. Our municipality has the second highest
number of deaths from opioid in Victoria.

The establishment of a `safe' injecting room in St Kilda would not
make drug using safe, as many drug users will use drugs in private.'