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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2283 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

The health and community care initiatives contained in this budget leave gaping holes of unmet need in the delivery of services to the ACT community. Alcohol and other drug services have been particularly neglected in this year's budget process.

The Ted Noffs youth rehabilitation facility in Watson, launched in October last year, is yet to open. Despite this government's rhetoric about its commitment to health and youth with alcohol and drug problems, bureaucratic red tape at both the Commonwealth and territory levels has stalled the process for over six months. The Ted Noffs Foundation has revealed that it will be unable to open its doors for at least another two or three months. Meanwhile, it has been inundated with calls from people desperate to use the service.

Even when the Ted Noffs program gets off the ground, a huge gap in service delivery will still exist because of the absence of a youth detoxification facility. Young people entering the Ted Noffs youth rehabilitation program will be expected to be fully detoxified on entry, but at the moment there is no youth-specific detoxification program in the ACT. Ms Barry, from the department, conceded in budget estimates this year that the existing detox services are not entirely appropriate for under-18s.

Currently, the Canberra Hospital and Arcadia House are the only available options for in-patient detoxification in Canberra. Both facilities have waiting lists and struggle to cope with the existing demand for their services. These programs do a wonderful job, of course, catering to a diverse client group, but are not designed to cater specifically to the needs of young people.

Mainstream detoxification facilities can actually be significantly detrimental environments for young people with alcohol and other drug problems. They create an opportunity to meet up with people who have more entrenched drug problems and who may become contacts for future drug use. Mainstream detoxification facilities enable young people to create linkages and build relationships with older drug users whose habits may be much worse than their own. For these reasons, the provision of youth-specific detoxification services should have been a priority in this year's budget.

The great need for youth detoxification facilities in the ACT has been highlighted by staff at Quamby who currently detox young offenders as best they can on the premises when they arrive because there are simply no appropriate facilities to refer them to. The staff at Quamby should be commended for their efforts, but it is simply unacceptable that they should be expected to provide such a service with no special training or assistance. Clearly, the absence of these services constitutes a serious unmet need.

The alcohol and other drugs sector has also suffered a blow-out in the waiting list for methadone treatment in the ACT. The upper waiting period for an appointment is eight weeks, and currently 47 people are registered on the waiting list. I cannot remember the quote but I recall Mr Moore saying, when he occupied that wonderful position that he held on the crossbench so well, that as far as he was concerned a week was too long to wait for the methadone program, and the upper wait for an appointment at the moment, under Mr Moore, is eight weeks.

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