COURAGE AND A DASH OF REALISM

The fictitious character Sir Humphrey Appleby would regularly counsel his
ministerial master Jim Hacker that politically courageous decisions were to
be avoided at all costs.

Indeed, Sir Humphrey would have been frowning at yesterday's decision by the
Victorian Government to give the go-ahead to an 18-month trial of supervised
injecting facilities for heroin users.

At first blush, the decision to proceed with the trial does represent the
most politically courageous action of the six-month-old Bracks
administration.

But closer examination of the detail shows there is a strong dose of
realpolitik underpinning the plan.

First, the facilities will be open to adults only, despite evidence
presented by Dr David Penington's committee that heroin use is a growing
problem among teenagers.

Senior government figures yesterday admitted the decision was driven by
politics not policy: that Labor believed opening the facilities to minors
would jeopardise the prospect of the injecting rooms winning broader
community support.

Second, the government has proposed an exhaustive consultation process that
ensures Labor cannot be accused of imposing the facilities on communities
that do not want them.

Enabling legislation will be introduced this parliamentary session but laid
over until spring. Trials will proceed only if local councils support them.
In making their decision, councils will be required to engage in extensive
consultations with local community groups, residents, traders and police.

This breathing space should ensure the community will be able to eventually
judge whether the outspoken residents groups hogging the media yesterday
genuinely represent a broad cross-section of voters or merely a vocal
minority.

It will also allow the opposition parties and key independent MPs time to
get off the political fence and decide whether they will pass the
legislation required for the facilities to proceed.

Politics aside, the State Government should be commended for having the
courage to follow New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in
the pursuit of a solution to the escalating heroin scourge. The challenge
now is whether the government can manage its way through the political,
legal, and emotional minefield it will inevitably confront over the coming
months.