Parliamentary Budget Office finds two-year pill testing trial would cost $3.8 million
The Greens have proposed a radical plan to introduce a two-year trial of pill testing at Victorian festivals, which would cost the government a pretty penny.
National
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A two-year trial of pill testing at Victorian music festivals would cost taxpayers just $3.8 million, according to an independent costing of the controversial plan.
The Greens are calling on the state government to approve a mobile pill testing unit to operate at 11 major festivals each year — similar to the trial at Canberra’s Groovin the Moo festival.
An inner-city laboratory would also be set up to carry out more detailed tests of drugs.
A costing of the plan, by Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget office, estimates that $2.6 million would be needed to cover operating and staffing costs over two years.
Another $1.2 million would have to be spent on testing equipment and to establish the laboratory.
The Greens introduced a Bill in parliament earlier this year to kickstart the trial, which would allow people to hand over their drugs to scientists who would take a small sample and provide information about whether they contained lethal or unexpected substances.
But Premier Daniel Andrews has consistently rejected calls to allow pill testing in Victoria, telling the Sunday Herald Sun earlier this year that there was “no comparison to be made” to the government’s safe injecting room trial in North Richmond.
“Even substances that are so-called pure, can kill. That’s the start and the finish of it. There is no safe level at which you can consume this stuff,” Mr Andrews said.
“The notion you can bring certainty to it, I just think is wrong and potentially dangerous because it misleads people. Maybe we have to do better at educating people.”
Victoria Police is also opposed to pill testing, arguing it would normalise or condone drug use and that there is “no such thing as a safe illicit drug”.
But Greens health spokesman Dr Tim Read seized on reports that the New South Wales Coroner was set to recommend allowing pill testing at music festivals.
MORE NEWS:
UNION BOSS SETKA HITS OUT AT LABOR
CALLS TO PROBE MAGISTRATE OVER AFFAIR, BOOZE CLAIMS
CAMPAIGN TO EXTRADITE ACCUSED PAEDOPHILE
“It’s surprising Victoria’s Labor government is as fixed as the NSW Liberal government in rejecting the evidence in favour of pill testing,” Dr Read said.
“We’ve got the research to back pill testing and now we know it’s affordable, so there’s no reason for the government to continue dragging its feet.”
Originally published as Parliamentary Budget Office finds two-year pill testing trial would cost $3.8 million