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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1203 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

let us try these things. If it is not successful, well, we try something else maybe. That is

why I support the safe injecting rooms. I am not particularly optimistic about that outcome, I might say, but I will support a trial of it.

Mr Moore: With proper evaluation.

MR WOOD: Yes, indeed. We must try these things and all sorts of other measures because there is no one answer. There is no answer that is, alone, the way to go. If we try those sorts of approaches and the Howard approach, which is very constricted, we will fail, as we have failed in the past.

With reference to the Federal Government, I think what Mr Howard has come up with is a great disappointment. I think we must note that he is in the position to provide much of the lead in what is to be done. Mr Howard has one thing in his strategy that is an enormous advantage, and that is to provide a fair whack of money. That is something the ACT Government probably cannot do. He has that, and I expect that out of that we are going to get the youth detox centre or something of that order.

Mr Moore: Only two-thirds of it.

MR WOOD: Thank you, Mr Moore, for that indication. Well, we will get that and that is a high priority. Mr Howard has the money. I think if he gave that to us, plus a lot of moral support in other ways, we could make some serious efforts at trying other options, but he has the money.

I note here, at the bottom of the table on page 29, referring to the "Turning the Tide" strategy in Victoria, that it says, "Investigate the provision". Well, okay, investigate. I do not like the word "investigate" spelt out in strategies too much. I would like to see something more definitive.

I was in Victoria recently talking on matters of men's health, but we came across quite a deal to do with the "Turning the Tide" strategy. The Victorian Government has put a lot of money into it. They have taken people aside. They have put them into schools. They have provided training. They backed up "Turning the Tide" with appropriate funding. Again I acknowledge, Mr Moore, that it is a problem for you because the funding is very hard to get. Perhaps the word "investigate" might be useful if you can find innovative ways of using some of those principles.

In our schools, where "Turning the Tide" in Victoria is principally aimed, there are many teachers who spend a large amount of their time attending to these matters. Schools already spend a lot of time on drug matters, illicit drugs as well as the conventional drugs. Maybe, if we work through schools and teachers who are already doing the job, and other agencies, we can apply some of those principles without enormous amounts of money. I acknowledge the difficulty.

I will close by saying that when this draft is firmed up to become the strategy I hope it is much clearer in respect of targets and in respect of resources in particular. I hope that we are much more explicit about where we are going and exactly how we are going to do it, rather than too much vagueness. I give credit to Mr Moore. I think the ACT is in a position to take a lead in Australia. If there was some money there it would be a big

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