Page 4699 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011
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I also note the evidence from the 12 countries overseas where NSPs operate. All the evidence from those programs has shown there have been no incidents of needles being used as weapons, there has been a decrease in needle stick injuries, an increase in the uptake of drug treatment programs, a significant decrease in the transmission of hepatitis C, to a point where there is almost no transmission, and no seroconversions.
It is interesting to hear Mr Hanson say he has researched this issue extensively, but he still completely ignores the overwhelming support and evidence for the introduction of NSPs in prisons. Mr Hanson again mentioned today the academic research about transmission rates being higher outside the jail than they are inside the jail. In answer to a question in the debate on NSPs at the HIV/AIDS conference recently, Mr Hanson said: “I can provide you with a reference to that. That is from Professor Butler, I think it is. I met him at a needles in prisons conference that I went to at the ANU.” According to Mr Hanson, one academic paper outweighs the dozens and dozens of reports that talk to the high rates of hepatitis C in the prison population and the need for prison NSPs.
It is also important to note that at that conference, after we had had the debate, a number of people actually corrected Mr Hanson on some of the statements he had made in his speech, in particular a number of physicians. That was particularly about the issue of transmission, which we have already talked about today. A number of corrections made about the assumptions made about when, how and where transmissions occur.
Mr Hanson’s saying that hepatitis C is not a problem in prisons shows an absolutely astounding lack of understanding of this issue. This is a fact: between 23 and 47 per cent of males in prisons have hepatitis C and the figure is between 50 and 70 per cent for female prisoners. For someone to get up and say here that hepatitis C is not a problem in the prison population ignores those statistics and that evidence and it shows an extreme lack of understanding on this issue. We will not be supporting Mr Hanson’s motion today, and I am happy to support the amendment that has been put forward by Ms Gallagher.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (4.52): The amendment really does not clarify what the Chief Minister is going to do here. We know that she wants to do this. We know that she is pushing for it. As I have said, she said on the radio quite clearly:
I think we should go ahead with a needle and syringe exchange program at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
She has also said it is difficult because there is a difference between what she wants as health minister and what she wants as Chief Minister. The question is: was she then saying that as the health minister or as the Chief Minister? You are the Chief Minister and you want this to go ahead. Is it going to go ahead or not, or are you backing down on it?
This is what people want to know: are you going to do this and it is simply now the mechanisms of how you are going to do it, or are you not going to do it? That is a
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