ATTACK ON DRUG EXCLUSION PLAN

Councillors in Melbourne's western suburbs have joined social workers
in attacking a plan by police in the City of Maribyrnong to ban drug
users and dealers from their municipality.

Today Senior Sergeant David Byrt from Footscray police outlined
Project Reduction, a 12-month pilot program whereby police will apply
to magistrates for exclusion orders to stop non-resident drug
offenders from entering the nine suburbs that make up the City of Maribyrnong.

Sergeant Byrt described the plan as an "innovative" and "realistic"
move to reduce drug-related crime in Footscray and surrounding
suburbs such as Seddon, Braybrook and Maidstone.

But councillors from neighbouring municipalities Hobsons Bay and
Moonee Valley believe Maribyrnong's Project Reduction will simply
push drug-related activity into their areas.

"I am most concerned that it will actually move the people into the
next suburb, which would be Flemington-Kensington and then throughout
the City of Moonee Valley," said Moonee Valley mayor Jan Chantry,
whose municipality includes Essendon and Ascot Vale.

Plan 'draconian'

Cr Chantry said she believed the plan was a draconian and out-of-date
approach to drug users.

"Contemporary drug policy promotes treatment and rehabilitation for
dependants rather than an approach like this that I believe will
further stigmatise drug dependant people," she said.

"Communities should work together and perhaps we could have come up
with a better solution to this social problem rather than just
erecting this city wall to keep unsuitable or undesirable people out."

Cr Carl Marsich, mayor of Hobsons Bay City Council, said while he
understood the frustrations of Footscray police, more could be
achieved by controlling the source of drug-related crime.

"It is a public health issue and policing is just one element of it," he said.

Cr Marsich, whose municipality includes Williamstown, Newport and
Altona, said he wanted to meet with Victoria Police to discuss
details of the plan.

Problem will spread

The councillors' concerns echo those of outreach worker Les Twentyman
from Open Family, and Odyssey House CEO David Crosbie.

Mr Twentyman said the plan would isolate addicts from services set up
to help them.

Mr Crosbie told theage.com.au that Project Reduction would spread
drug activity, making it more difficult to police.

"The reality is that anywhere there is a significantly dense
population and good public transport ... drug users will do business
just like anybody else," he said.

"This plan will see drug activity spread out into surrounding suburbs
. then every council will start to say, 'Why can't we have an
exclusion zone?' Where does it end?"

No proven results

This morning Sergeant Byrt admitted he did not know what the impact
on areas surrounding the City of Maribyrnong would be.

"There's actually been no recorded studies of the affects of
displacement conducted before and the advantage of this is we now
have people in place whose task it is to specifically monitor those
affects in relation to this project," he said.

He rejected the notion that Project Reduction was a radical new
measure to shift drug-related activities out of the City of Maribyrnong.

"This is simply an extension of a process that we've always had
available to us through the ... Bail Act, and prior to July 1 police
have been applying these conditions as bail conditions on offenders."

"Now we're simply going to formalise it more and make it a sentencing
option for a magistrate upon conviction."

Project Reduction, which begins on Saturday, will cover nine suburbs
in the city's west: Footscray, West Footscray, Braybrook, Yarraville,
Maidstone, Tottenham, Seddon, Kingsville and Maribyrnong.