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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 01 Hansard (Wednesday, 11 February 2004) . . Page.. 182 ..

I think this Karralika issue is arousing huge concerns across the territory because if it can happen to the residents of Fadden and Macarthur in Tuggeranong, it can happen anywhere. The minister will simply declare something to have a confidential service and therefore he can put whatever he wants wherever he may.

The use of the call-in power is of great concern. Make no mistake, Minister, the community is watching what happens here today. They are watching you and your use of the cloak of confidentiality. You are seriously on notice about the way that you are handling your portfolio—indeed, the way that you are handling your portfolio poorly. I believe that the community will make an ultimate judgment at the election in October, particularly on the minister and the way he has handled this portfolio.

That said, Mr Speaker, I would call on members to support my motion. I think it clearly sets out the proper process that should occur and I think it sends a very clear, very direct message to the minister that the community has concerns about his behaviour and he needs to address those concerns.

MR CORBELL (Minister for Health and Minister for Planning) (11.29): Mr Speaker, before dealing with the detail of these motions, I would like to put this whole issue in some perspective, and it is a perspective that we cannot afford not to take. Between the 2001-02 and the 2002-03 financial years, we in the ACT witnessed a 16 per cent increase in demand for residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs—a 16 per cent increase in a very short period.

There is no doubt that our community has a real and pressing need to provide for people who are rehabilitating from drug addiction. Whether it is alcohol or illicit drugs, they need this service. Of course, these facilities ultimately need to be somewhere, and they need to be in a low-key, residential setting. These are not institutions; these are not asylums or hospitals. They are residential rehabilitation places, and they work most effectively when they sit within a community context. That is the reason behind the establishment of Karralika in the first place. It is equally the reason why the government proposed to expand that facility in the last budget.

I would like to outline to members a bit further the issues which are contingent and which drive this whole proposal. In the ACT last year, 9,847 persons were estimated to be dependent on alcohol. The level of high-risk alcohol drinking was reported to be higher in the ACT than in Australia as a whole. Only the Northern Territory has a higher figure. In regard to heroin, approximately 1,700 people were dependent on it in 2003, and on top of heroin there were significant levels of dependence on several other drug groups in the ACT population.

So, as a community, we must work at reducing the waiting times for those wanting to address their alcohol and drug problems in the safe and supportive learning environment of a therapeutic community, such as the Karralika facility. That is what this proposal is fundamentally about. That is what the government is seeking to achieve. Whilst I accept that the planning and development issues are of equal importance and significance, we as an Assembly cannot afford to take our eyes off the ball. Fundamentally, we are talking about the provision of facilities that are desperately needed in our community.

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