KINGS CROSS TRADERS FIGHT SHOOTING GALLERY PLAN

Australia's first legal heroin shooting gallery may be located in the heart
of Kings Cross, outraging businesses who fear their trade will be harmed.

The chief executive officer of the Sisters of Charity Health Service, Dr
Tina Clifton, told a public meeting in Kings Cross on September 29 that the
medically supervised injecting room would be sited 400 metres from
Springfield Avenue mall but would not be in Darlinghurst Road.

But the Kings Cross Licensing Accord Association (KCLAA) has told
businesses that the "preferred location" for the room was "within a
200-metre radius of the Hungry Jacks restaurant", with proposed operating
hours from 4pm to 11pm.

The association includes representatives of Kings Cross licensees, police,
South Sydney Council and the Government's Health, Gaming and Racing and
Premier's departments.

Sources involved in establishing the injecting room said the Sisters of
Charity, who will operate the facility, ruled out locating it on their St
Vincent's Hospital campus shortly after announcing their involvement in
July. The NSW Drug Summit in May recommended an 18-month trial of an
injecting room, which was supported by the Government.

The president of the KCLAA, Mr John Franks, said businesses were not
opposed to an injecting room but were horrified at the proposed location.

"The pivotal issues are police levels, because there's a crisis now, and
the location. The closer it [the room] is to businesses, the more damage it
will do," he said.

"In fairness to businesses and residents who are having an injecting room
inflicted on them, the Government must take measures to protect our quality
of life."

In an October 19 letter to businesses, the KCLAA said: "The committee feels
that the operation of a legalised injecting room within the Kings Cross
precinct will only have a further detrimental impact on all businesses
within the area.

"We are extremely concerned that the Government will proceed with placing
the injecting room in the middle of the main thoroughfare."

Mr Peter Grunfeld, the past president of the Kings Cross Chamber of
Commerce, said the reason for locating the room close to the mall was to
attract the targeted 5 per cent of drug users who injected alone in alleys.

"These are the people who inject unsupervised. It's unsafe for them and
it's unhealthy for everyone else because they leave syringes behind," he said.

Drug experts also believed that addicts would not travel up to 1.5
kilometres to St Vincent's Hospital. Many bought heroin in the mall and
injected as soon as possible afterwards.

A spokesman for Dr Clifton said businesses were "jumping the gun" because
no decision on the location would be made until legislation enabling the
establishment of the room was passed by Parliament. "Four or five" sites in
Kings Cross were being looked at, but these were "rough options", he said.

The Special Minister of State, Mr Della Bosca, introduced legislation into
the Upper House last week for the injecting room trial. A vote on the
package could occur as early as tonight.