Furious Melbourne CBD traders want ‘answers’ from City Council on injecting room report
CBD business owners are “flabbergasted” that Melbourne Council won’t support the urgent release of a report into safe injecting rooms by ex-top cop Ken Lay.
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Traders are furious at Melbourne City Council for refusing to support the urgent release of a report into safe injecting rooms by former top cop Ken Lay.
Several traders in Melbourne’s CBD told the Herald Sun they were “flabbergasted” the council had failed to endorse a motion which called for the release of the delayed report given the impact the injecting room will have on the city.
It comes after councillors on Tuesday night shot down a motion put forward by councillor Roshena Campbell at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting, which was pushing for Mr Lay’s report to be seen as soon as possible.
The report will likely reveal the potential sites the state government is considering for the controversial city injecting room.
The motion was voted down six to three and replaced by a watered-down proposal by Greens councillor Dr Olivia Ball to “reaffirm” the city’s support for an injecting room within the CBD.
The alternative motion by Dr Ball also failed to seek clarification on how much compensation CBD ratepayers and property owners impacted by a second injecting room would receive, which was originally put forward by Cr Campbell.
Mohamed Ali, who owns a cafe on Degraves St, said he was furious the council had refused to call on the state government to release Mr Lay’s report.
“We deserve answers. We don’t want an injecting room on Flinders St – it will be the icing on the cake and it will just completely destroy the area” Mr Ali said.
“We are just starting to come back from Covid, the council needs to support our businesses and understand that this is the last thing we need,” he said.
Johnny Sandish, managing director at Xpressomondo cafe in Degraves St, said traders also deserved answers on if they would be compensated if a second injecting room goes ahead.
“We need to know if we will be compensated. The council must support us and call on for this report to be released, as longstanding traders they need to be honest with us,” he said.
“We don’t want happening here what happened in Richmond, we don’t want drug users to approach families while they’re eating and publicly inject – the Flinders St location is wrong.”
Cr Campbell said: “I moved a motion calling for the state government to come clean on its plans for a CBD injecting room because small businesses have done it tough enough”.
“I believe it will be a disaster for Melbourne but I am required to respect the decision of other councillors who support an injecting room,” she said.
Opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealy said: “CBD businesses have been decimated by Labor with traffic closures, Covid mismanagement and now the threat of a heroin injecting facility on their doorstep”.
“The Ken Lay report is now two years overdue, Daniel Andrews must be honest with traders and tell them what their future holds,” Ms Kealy said.
A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said: “The Lord Mayor will write to the new health minister requesting a copy of the Ken Lay report once completed, seeking a commitment from the state government to work with the City of Melbourne on the location of the MSIS and relaying the sentiments of local traders and residents”.
The Herald Sun revealed earlier this year Mr Lay’s report, which was expected to be finalised at the end of 2020, would now be handed down in 2023.
The state government last week said the report would not be released before November’s election.
A state government spokeswoman said no decision had been made regarding the final location of Melbourne’s second injecting room.
“There is a real and growing need for a health service that can address and prevent drug harms in the CBD. A second supervised injecting service will save lives and change lives,” she said.
FOR: SALLY CAPP
Melbourne Lord Mayor
The evidence is clear: safe injecting rooms save lives. Unfortunately it is also undisputable there are people in our CBD who have substance abuse — and that some are dying.
That’s why I support the state government’s plan for an injecting service in the municipality. I have always caveated that support by insisting that it needs to be the right type of facility in the right location. We need to learn the lessons from North Richmond.
I am concerned that a facility near Flinders Street Station does not meet these requirements.
On Tuesday night, the majority of councillors — myself included — decided to write to the new health minister and request a copy of the Ken Lay report once complete, seek a commitment from the state government to work with the City of Melbourne on the location of the medically supervised injection room and relay the sentiments of local traders and residents.
I acknowledge there are a lot of strong opinions on this topic. It is a complex issue. Everyone wants to save lives and protect livelihoods. The challenge is how best to do both.
Last week the state government announced the release of the independent Ken Lay report has been delayed into next year so Ken can assess post-pandemic data.
Ken has listened to and incorporated trader and resident feedback in the past and I am confident he will do so again.
When Drill Hall near the Queen Victoria Market was proposed as a site for an injecting room, we made clear it very why this wasn’t an appropriate location, which the state government accepted.
Once we receive the report and a site is recommended, the City of Melbourne can once again mobilise. Of course we want to see the report back as soon as possible.
We can be focused on our traders, residents, visitors and our vulnerable community members at the same time. We don’t have to choose one or the other. I am committed to ensuring that what the state government delivers is a facility that works for Melbourne.
AGAINST: EMMA KEALY
Shadow Minister for Mental Health
The past few years have been a tough road for businesses across Victoria, but traders in Flinders St near Melbourne’s iconic Degraves St have been some of the hardest hit.
They have faced years of access closures which cut back foot-traffic, mandatory closures from six pandemic lockdowns, and now the uncertainty of a secret report into the location of future drug injecting facilities.
All of this occurred with no consultation and under a veil of secrecy that has become the norm for the Andrews Labor government.
Many businesses simply have not survived these government-imposed disasters.
Businesses that have are mustering all their energy to reinvigorate and revitalise the CBD — and they should be commended and supported for doing so.
But the ongoing uncertainty of where and when a drug injecting facility will be opened in the CBD is causing enormous angst for those who have already suffered so much at the hands of government decisions.
Decisions which they have had no input into, decisions that have been kept secret until it’s too late.
This isn’t about lacking compassion for people living with drug addiction.
We want people living with addiction to be provided with support and treatment, and not left to die on our streets.
Government should be helping people living with addiction, but people deserve support and treatment that works.
We can’t ignore the now overwhelming evidence that Labor’s version of an injecting room next door to a primary school in North Richmond has failed to live up to the promise of improving the amenity of this residential area, and tragically, has resulted in more heroin-related overdose deaths in the immediate area.
The last thing Melbourne’s CBD needs is the troubles that have plagued North Richmond.
Daniel Andrews must stop the secrecy and tell Melbourne businesses and residents where he plans to build more drug injecting facilities.
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