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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3586 ..

custody are often shared with families when they are released from custody. Drug use is rife throughout our prisons.

When the government is determining whether to establish a prison in the ACT it will have to establish how it will deal with the health issues of prisoners, what it will do to protect the health of prisoners in the system and what it will do to protect the health of families when prisoners who have served their time are returned to their families. This bill does not refer to the provision of drugs. However, we recognise that there is a need to minimise the harm that is caused by the sharing of needles. We are looking at ways to provide needles 24 hours a day.

I remember referring in this Assembly to the fact that people in the ACT do not have 24-hour access to syringes. They used to have access to syringes, but those services were closed down. For a number of years, people in the ACT have not had 24-hour access to clean needles. Drug use is not something that happens between the hours of 9.00 am and 5.00 pm; it is something that happens 24 hours a day. We cannot foresee when somebody might desire to take a hit or whether that person will recognise, as a result of all the information that has been made available, that he or she must use a clean needle.

As opposition members have already said, legislating for the provision of vending machines is a step in the right direction. One of the benefits of the needle exchange program is the ability to provide one-on-one support, referral to further information and counselling at a time when syringes are being handed over. That is the next best thing until the government is willing to support the 24-hour operation of the needle exchange program.

Some members of the community expressed concern about access to these syringes and how they could be used to harm children. The opposition cannot have it both ways. The imposition of a $2 fee would act as a deterrent to children and young people. They would not want to spend $2 of their hard-earned pocket money just to play with a machine that they knew nothing about. The government would also have to determine how those small amounts of money were to be collected.

We must address the location of these machines and what the government will do to ensure that syringes are getting to those who need them the most and that they are being used properly. It is vital to those who are using syringes that they have access to them 24-hours a day. Clean needles are vital for the better health of those who are using them.

I welcome this initiative. However, I think the government should be doing a lot more to reduce harm amongst drug users. The alcohol, tobacco and other drugs strategy for 2004-08 could have gone a bit further in this area. That having been said, I welcome this move. I hope that there will be a greater move by the government towards a harm minimisation approach and to improving the health of our community.

MRS CROSS (9.00): I appreciate the intent of this bill, but there is little convincing or factual information regarding the degree of effectiveness that the installation of syringe vending machines at a number of points throughout the ACT is likely to have on stemming the threat of HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C. At the same time, I can see that it is difficult to acquire such information.

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