PUBLIC LEFT OUT OF THE EQUATION

THE Queensland Government, a government-approved company and a handful
of Burleigh locals most certainly know about the existence of a West
Burleigh needle exchange, but the Gold Coast City Council and many
residents have been left to battle its location.

The exchange is operating without council approval and it certainly
doesn't enjoy the wholehearted support of locals. This may serve to
explain why ratepayers from Burleigh and surrounding areas are
planning to hold a rally against the needle exchange next month.

Wherever these needle exchanges are established, trouble follows. In
echoes of Palm Beach shopkeepers and business people who complained
bitterly about crime in the precinct around that suburb's needle
exchange, West Burleigh business operators have begun to protest about
having a needle exchange close by.

The reason West Burleigh people and their local councillor Greg Betts
are upset is because the needle 'exchange' is positioned right in the
middle of a residential part of Burleigh Heads.

There are two obvious problems.

Firstly, centres such as the one in West Burleigh are not needle
exchanges at all; they are syringe collection centres, set up for the
convenience of injecting drug addicts. There is no obligation on the
addicts to exchange used syringes for new ones.

Of course such centres are characterised as the saviours of a wider
society because their new, clean syringes, provided free of charge,
help to limit the spread of AIDS.

But everyone in society is supposed to be sensitive to broader
needs.

Unfortunately drug addicts, as a result of their condition, are not
always sensitive to other people's needs; trouble follows them and in
this case their strife goes right into the heart of Burleigh Heads.

Every establishment, whether it is a hamburger shop or used car yard,
is expected to be placed according to its social and commercial effect
in a suburb.

This is why Gold Coast City councillors, in refusing approval for the
Burleigh facility, had to go against the advice of their council
officers' recommendations.

They were simply heeding the concerns of people who thought a needle
exchange centre should be in an industrial area away from homes and
retail outlets.

The centre is operating without council approval, pending a court
appeal against the council's decision.

But if the Queensland Government is sensitive to people's needs, it
will get in first, shift the exchange centre away from houses and save
everyone a lot of heartache. Cyclone needed IT is not usual to ask for
a cyclone, but southeast Queensland this summer certainly could do
with the big downpours that come with a severe tropical low.

Despite the Gold Coast's Hinze Dam being at 59 per cent capacity, the
combined level of major dams in southeast Queensland is less than 20
per cent.

Bearing in mind the Gold Coast soon will be part of the Queensland
Government-controlled water grid and our water will be used for
general supply, the outlook for this city next year is grim.

So what we all need is a major rainfall event -- flooding in the
catchments and full dams for the rest of the year. Keep your fingers
crossed for a non-destructive cyclone this weekend and next week.