DRUG TRIAL: CARNELL SNUBS PM

ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell has rejected a call from Prime Minister John
Howard to halt plans to set up a heroin injecting room.

Labor Governments in NSW and Victoria have also rebuffed Mr Howard.

Mrs Carnell said last night, ' At this stage I can't see anything new in the
concerns of the Narcotics Control Board and unless somebody can show us
something that we haven't addressed in our own legal opinions then we will
continue.'

She also rejected the notion that heroin injecting rooms could damage
Australia's image as host of the Olympics Games next year.

' I think it gives an image of a compassionate country that really cares
about drug abuse. It doesn't condone it,' she said.

' There's nothing cool about this . . . We care enough to do something about
it.'

Mr Howard has seized on a letter from the UN International Narcotics Control
Board to call for State and Territory Governments to hold off on their
proposed injecting-room trials until the Commonwealth can consider the
implications.

The letter said injecting rooms could breach international treaty
obligations and send the wrong message that Australia was a place where
illicit drugs could be abused with impunity.

Mrs Carnell said the board took a ' very narrow' and a ' reasonably
one-sided' view of the issue.

'I am writing to John [Howard] to say I am more than comfortable to be part
of a meeting to discuss the issues raised in the International Narcotics
Control Board letter,' she said.

' We have legal advice to indicate that the approach we are taking is
appropriate. So I think what we should do is sit around a table and sort out
the issues.' Mrs Carnell said she did not believe the Howard Government
would intervene in ACT plans, and it did not have the numbers in the Senate
to do so without support from the Democrats.

Independent Paul Osborne said this latest development justified his stance
in opposing the injecting room.

' They rushed through the legislation when there were clear problems with
our international treaty obligations,' Mr Osborne said.

' It's a week too late.'

The Assembly approved a two-year injecting-room trial last week. Mr Osborne
said he was sure this information would have affected Labor's decision to
support the legislation.

Labor Leader Jon Stanhope said he might have agreed to adjourn the debate if
he had the information before him a week ago.

The Federal Government could override the state and territory laws with
legislation under its external affairs powers.

It could also pressure the states to back down by threatening to withhold
funding support for key projects.

But Labor and the Australian Democrats made it clear yesterday they would
not support any legislation in the Senate to stop the heroin trials.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said it would be wrong for Mr Howard to block
the trials.

' Legal advice to me is that our international obligations are not a barrier
to tackling the heroin problem, and that the plans for safe injecting rooms
pose no threat to our obligations under international convention,' Mr
Beazley said.

Democrats Leader Meg Lees said any move to block the trials would be
dangerously short-sighted.

' Safe injecting rooms are about keeping young people alive and giving them
a second chance,' Senator Lees said.

Victorian Health Minister John Thwaites said his government remained
committed to the plan.

And NSW Special Minister of State John Della Bosca said international bodies
should not dictate Australian policies.

Mr Howard said later there were good arguments on both sides of the
injecting room debate but a prime minister could not sit on the fence on the
issue.

Some people argued that injecting rooms could save lives, he said.

' Others argue that you give a new dimension of sanction to an activity if
you go down the path of safe injecting rooms,' he said.