Page 3084 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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provided by a needle and syringe program would become currency in the jail. We already know that simple basic items become currency. How can we not assume that needles, and with them the illicit drugs that would become a more highly sought commodity, would cause more standover tactics? Visitors would be compelled or coerced by inmates to bring in even more drugs than are already available within the system—the drugs, I might add, which are more often than not the catalyst for bringing prisoners to jail in the first place.
A survey of the prison population conducted by Prisoners Aid found that the overwhelming majority of prisoners themselves do not want to see a needle and syringe program implemented in the ACT prison system. After all, in an ideal world, jail should provide an opportunity to rehabilitate and break the habit for good—that is, if we put the money earmarked for an NSP into much-needed rehabilitation programs such as those provided by organisations like Karralika. These organisations could make very good use of that kind of money and provide much-needed services, support and rehabilitation opportunities in a worthwhile way.
However, there are no surprises here. The government have their heads in the sand and are refusing to hear the evidence and the opinions of those that go against their politically motivated ideology. In fact, there is a complete ignorance of the fact that the NSP might not reduce the instances of blood-borne viruses but, in fact, increase the use of illicit drugs within the prison system and potentially increase the transmission of diseases.
My motion today calls on the government to investigate alternative options for the prevention of the spread of blood-borne diseases—a simple request given the plethora of publications, research and documents that have been presented for the “for” case. Let us see some balance in the discussion. In the face of so much opposition to the policy, particularly from those that matter the most, this is the very least that should be done. Let us prove that the NSP will actually prevent the spread of blood-borne viruses, not increase it. Let us see what other options and alternatives are on the table before we use our prison system, our jail and our community as yet another test case.
The focus should be on decreasing drug use in the jail. The focus should be on more rehabilitation opportunity not only for sentenced prisoners but remandees as well. The focus should be on maintaining security and safety of the jail, not the pursuit of an ideologically driven left-wing agenda.
Currently there is no compulsion for prisoners to submit to a drug test upon admission. Further to this, in an answer to a question on notice, the corrections minister advises us that, out of 2,014 tests undertaken during a two-year period, only 185 of those were conducted randomly. This illustrates that there is absolutely no will to stop illicit drug use in the jail. Instead, the proposed policies are designed to make it easier for prisoners to stay on drugs. We should be making addiction the focus and decreasing the prevalence of addiction in the jail as a priority.
In a moment members opposite will stand up and righteously speak of the need to introduce this program as a health initiative. In my view, this is a flawed and confused argument. On one hand, we have a government seeking to ban smoking across the
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