Page 3089 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo—Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Minister for Corrective Services, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Minister for Sport and Recreation) (11.08): It should come as no surprise to Mr Wall and his colleagues that I will not be supporting this motion. About the only thing we can clearly agree on here is that the needle and syringe program, or NSP, was and is a commitment of both the ACT Greens and Labor and we continue to stand by this positive health prevention initiative.
Mr Wall in his remarks made some observations about a politically motivated ideology. I think he delivered a fair bit of it in his comments this morning. It would be useful to start by considering some of the facts and evidence on this issue.
Detainees in Australian prisons experience among the highest prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in the world and extremely high rates of hepatitis C transmission. In the sixth national HIV strategy 2010-13, people in custodial settings are identified to be at a higher risk of contracting HIV than the general population. There is no vaccine currently for hepatitis C. Currently standard treatment for hepatitis C is a regimen of pegylated interferon injections and Ribavirin tablets.
Whilst there are some very exciting new treatments on the horizon, the fact is that this existing treatment can be difficult to undergo. According to Hepatitis Australia, hepatitis C currently costs commonwealth and state and territory governments $252 million annually, with a projected five-year cost of $1½ billion, not to mention the pain, suffering and, unfortunately, possible eventual death of the untreated individual.
The AMC has a significant set of policies and procedures that are designed to offer a safe and rehabilitative prison environment. There are a few other key points to consider here. The Corrections Management Act 2007 directs the general manager to ensure that, where practicable, “detainees have a standard of health care equivalent to that available to other people in the ACT” and that “as far as practicable, detainees are not exposed to the risks of infection”.
Mr Wall would be aware of two important strategies that are useful to reference in this debate. Both are published online and are easily accessible. The strategic framework for the management of blood-borne viruses in the Alexander Maconochie Centre 2013-17 has been developed to promote transparency and accountability in the management of blood-borne virus infections in the AMC. While ACT Health has lead responsibility for implementation of the strategic framework, ACT Corrective Services is intrinsically engaged in this as a key stakeholder.
The strategic goals mirror the national strategies for HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C and sexually transmissible infections, and are informed by decades of national government policy as well as the research that obviously sits behind that.
There is also the drug policies and services framework for the Alexander Maconochie Centre, again led by ACT Health, and again with Corrective Services engagement. This approach recognises the Alexander Maconochie Centre as part of, rather than discrete from, the broader community, and focuses on the tried, tested and true three key pillars of supply reduction, demand reduction and harm minimisation.
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