Jeff Kennett: Supervised injecting room deserves a chance

ALL the evidence shows supervised injecting rooms save lives and a civilised society works hard to save lives, writes Jeff Kennett.

ON TUESDAY, Daniel Andrews announced that a medically supervised injecting centre would be trialled in Richmond, within the City of Yarra. The Premier asked me to chair a three-person expert panel to monitor the facility and evaluate its effectiveness over the first two years and I have accepted. We will report to the Premier and Parliament annually, but leave open the option of reporting every six months.

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I received the Premier’s request with genuine mixed feelings. On one hand, I want to see his government defeated at the next election and I want to retain my ability to comment on aspects of government programs with which I disagree. But the Premier said my silence on political issues was not a condition of the position.

On the other hand, I have long advocated the need in Victoria for such a trial, based on the facility in Sydney that has operated without a death for more than a decade. It has concerned me that recently that the Victorian Parliament has debated legislation to allow probably only a few citizens a year to end their painful lives with dignity, under strict conditions.

If it was your son or daughter addicted to drugs, don’t you think we should do everything we can to prevent that child’s death?. Picture: Jason Edwards

But we do nothing to prevent the deaths of many people — often vulnerable people with health and mental health problems, frequently homeless — due to drug overdoses. Others come from wealthy families, are educated but still fall to the scourge of drugs.

Many readers believe addicts should deal with their own circumstances. But a life is a life. A compassionate society must be prepared, to respect life and give those who are struggling the chance of rehabilitation. It is easy to reject the concept of assisting those who have fallen through the cracks of modern society. But we must give this trial a chance to prove itself. All the evidence, local and international, supports the value of such a facility.

Much of my thinking has been formed by my experiences of leading beyondblue for 17 years. While it might sound trite, I have spoken over the years to many families who have lost a child to a drug overdose. The pain is immeasurable. So, if it was your son or daughter, don’t you think we should do everything we can to prevent that child’s death?

Of course, this facility will not prevent all deaths, just as seat belts and safer cars do not prevent all deaths on our roads — but it might prevent many deaths, and that is an outcome worth pursuing.

A supervised injecting facility will not prevent all deaths, but it might prevent many deaths, and that is an outcome worth pursuing. Picture: Jason Edwards

So I will put aside my conflicted feelings because the trial of a safe injecting facility is more important than politics and having been asked to bring an independent mind to the project, it is not a responsibility I can reject. Readers of this column will know that I believe that public service is the finest service in which one can be involved. This column is not an apology for accepting the responsibility, but to emphasise that I have not gone soft on my commitment to the values of the Liberal Party, nor will I be silenced on those matters that cause me grief — but there is more to life than partisan politics.

On another topic, many of you will know that the Electrical Trades Union has been running a campaign against me because a company I chair — which employs about 150 Victorians in servicing a whole range of point of sale machines at supermarkets, shops, transport systems and gaming machines — recently won an open tender for 16 positions to service the gaming machines at Crown.

Crown wanted to contract out the work, as many firms are doing, rather than have 16 ETU members on staff. Last week the ETU gave to The Age the details of an FOI they lodged with the Premier’s Department for details of the expenditure of my entitlements as an ex-premier.

The Age salivated at the information, put their spin on it to embarrass me and my wife, while being a willing partner in the ETU’s campaign against me.

North Richmond Community Health centre is going to become a safe injecting room. Picture: Andrew Tauber

I DO not mind scrutiny and am not embarrassed by The Age’s treatment of the ETU information. What I object to is The Age printing a photograph of the building I occupy on their front page. The result was that I spent Sunday morning removing graffiti from the building, words directly related to The Age story and the ETU’s campaign.

My writing about this might lead to more vandalism, but those who commit such crimes if caught should be penalised. Not prison, but perhaps banning them from receiving any government benefit for a year. Or if they are employed and not receiving any benefit, bar them from receiving any for the next five years. These people are not street artists but malicious individuals who want to deface other people’s property. Let The Age and ETU continue their campaign and I will continue to campaign, with my colleagues, to help jailed indigenous Australians lead a better life when they are freed. And now I will work to help prevent drug deaths on our streets.

Life is for living and there are more important things than a union that won’t accept competition and a newspaper that has lost its reason to exist.

Have a good day.

Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria

@jeff_kennett