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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 356 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

undesirable present state of affairs. From my understanding of the purpose of the trial and the report from the heroin pilot task force, it is very clear that the conditions surrounding the conduct of the trial will be rigorously controlled and very specific in nature. The trial itself will not take place unless the two pilot stages have been deemed successful and each stage given the go-ahead by the Assembly. Members should also note that the task force report emphasised that the trial's outcome is consistent with the policy of harm minimisation that underpins both the national drug strategy and the ACT drug strategy.

There are, however, a few issues that were not within the task force's brief that still need to be worked on, such as the holistic approach, which I have already talked about, and also the duty of care for those participating. Ms Follett mentioned that she had some slight concerns about that, but I note that there is a bioethics committee working with the steering committee, or whatever it is going to be. I think that is a normal process in any kind of trial, but I will be watching with interest how that is carried out. There are also cost and funding implications, as well as safety and security implications, and ongoing community education is an issue. As the report has indicated, these matters would be taken further by the steering committee that would oversee the pilots and trials.

There are major concerns within the community that more still needs to be done, especially in regard to setting the trial into the context of a longer-term strategy, and I have already talked about that, but also in terms of dealing with people who have got to the unfortunate position where they have a serious drug addiction that is controlling their lives. The community seems to have a sense that this sort of project or experiment or trial needs to be set in a broader context, a broader strategy, for helping these people. We urge members to consider seriously the need to support measures that would integrate more fully maintenance and rehabilitation options as key elements for all drug and alcohol programs offered within the ACT. Increased funding of such programs would also need to reflect this renewed commitment towards the goal of achieving long-term wellbeing of individual drug users and, therefore, the broader community.

The high human cost of heroin use is counted not only by the users but also by their families and the wider community. The costs are well documented, and I will not go into them, but they include lost lives and opportunities and widespread drug-related crime. It is about time we started looking at this issue in a more in-depth way and were prepared to act courageously, which I believe this Government has done in instigating this trial. The Greens would like to offer sincere thanks to the members of the task force for their commitment and objectivity. I also congratulate the Government on the consultation processes that were used. I agree with other members that they were a very good model.

MR MOORE (4.33): It is with pleasure that I rise to speak to this issue today. Members will be aware that this is not the first time I have risen to speak on this and similar issues. In fact, in August 1991, I was chair of the Select Committee on HIV, Illegal Drugs and Prostitution, which brought down a second interim report, "A Feasibility Study on the Controlled Availability of Opioids". In the preface to that report I stated:

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