Page 4686 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011

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Question so resolved in the negative.

Alexander Maconochie Centre—needle and syringe program

MR HANSON (Molonglo) (4.07): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) that the Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher, has been pushing for a needle exchange at the ACT prison;

(b) that the Chief Minister commissioned the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) to report on how a needle and syringe program (NSP) could be implemented at the prison;

(c) that the Community and Public Sector Union submission to the government following the PHAA report makes it clear that prison staff do not support a NSP at the prison;

(d) that the Australian Nursing Federation submission to the government makes it clear that nurses do not support the NSP models of delivery as proposed by the PHAA report; and

(e) that the submission by Mr Bill Aldcroft, an expert with many years experience working with prisoners, makes it clear that prisoners do not support a NSP; and

(2) calls on the Chief Minister to abandon her push to introduce a needle exchange at the prison and publicly announce that the ACT Labor government will no longer pursue a NSP at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

The motion calls on the health minister to immediately stop her push for a needle and syringe program at the Alexander Maconochie Centre. If you question whether she is pushing this issue or not, let us be very clear. She is. She commissioned the Burnet Institute report, she commissioned the Michael Moore report and as recently as 2 September on ABC radio she said:

I think we should go ahead with a needle and syringe exchange program at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

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