Community leaders call for ‘adult’ discussion on new injecting room

Injecting room advocates are calling on the Andrews government to sit down with CBD traders before selecting a location for a new facility.

Injecting room advocates have called on the state government to “have a mature, adult conversation” with CBD traders before selecting a location for the second medically supervised injecting room.

About 80 chief executives and community leaders from around Victoria signed a joint letter to the government and wider public on Thursday supporting a safe injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD.

It comes as the Andrews government continues to keep city traders in the dark on a location for the proposed safe injecting service.

Salvation Army Major Brendan Nottle said the government and drug and alcohol services needed to “work together” with traders who may be affected by a CBD injecting room.

“What we need to do is take the heat out of this conversation and actually sit down and have a mature, adult conversation — and that involves government, that involve services like ours as well — and actually start to understand what the real issues are,” Major Nottle said.

Salvation Army Major Brendan Nottle says the government and drug and alcohol services need to ‘work together’ with traders who may be affected by a CBD injecting room. Picture: Aaron Francis

“We need to do that before the medically supervised injecting room (MSIR) is commenced. But we also need to continue to do that when the MSIR has been introduced, so that we have adult, mature, calm conversations, and we actually work together to address the issues.

“We’ve got a responsibility — as a community, as local government, as state government, as services, as residents, as small businesses - to actually come together and say, let’s work together and let’s actually put things in place that address your concerns.”

Major Nottle said there was no “right spot” for a city-based MSIR but it must to be easily accessible to drug users.

“This group are an incredibly difficult group to access and to connect with, and so therefore we have to take the service to them,” he said.

“Do I have a definitive geographical spot for that to occur? No, other than it has to be right where the people gather.”

Major Nottle said drug users usually gathered at Flinders, Elizabeth and Spencer streets, as well as around Queen Victoria Market and in CBD laneways such as Rainbow Alley, off Little Collins St.

“I think any of those options will be good … we’re not wedded to a particular site other than it needs to be a place which is easily accessible for the group that we’re trying to reach,” he said.

Theo and Johnny Sandish are among Degraves St traders demanding to know where the next injecting room will go. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Owner of Degraves St cafe The Quarter Theo Roussos said local traders deserved to know if the building would be used for the injecting room.

“We already know that building is (the government’s) anyway, that was bought a long time ago,” Mr Roussos told the Herald Sun.

“It is something that we would feel – as traders and long standing traders here, because it’s going to affect us – we’d want to know before they do anything.”

Long time Degraves St trader Johnny Sandish, who owns Xpressomondo cafe, wants to know why the government is considering opening the injecting room in one of Melbourne’s most popular dining and tourist destinations.

“Why are they hiding? They should tell us now. If it’s on Degraves St … we need to know,” Mr Sandish said.

“They bought a site but they won’t tell us. What are they afraid of?”

The Premier on Wednesday said the government had multiple CBD locations in mind for a potential second safe injecting room.

Melbourne man Daniel Korver, 38, was found unresponsive in Rainbow Alley last year after a fatal heroin overdose.

His mother Katrina believes her son would still be alive if he had access to a nearby supervised space and has called on the government to take action.

“He shouldn’t have died that day. He had used the Richmond facilities regularly and if there had been a medically supervised injecting room here in Melbourne, he would have used it,” Ms Korver said.

“We need to get that second injecting room now. It doesn’t have to be a fully-fledged second injecting room — can we do something temporary in the meantime? I don’t know, I’m not the expert. But I definitely know we need something.”

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said “the location, timing and impact of a medically supervised injecting service must be carefully considered”.

“In August 2022, City of Melbourne councillors endorsed Council’s continued support for a medically supervised injecting service in the City of Melbourne – and sought a commitment from the state government to work with Council on an ideal location.”

Meanwhile, Victoria’s police union boss fears a second safe injecting room will see drug trafficking skyrocket and place “an increased toll on police”.

Victoria’s police union boss Wayne Gatt. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Wayne Gatt said while Melbourne does not currently have “an active drug trafficking problem”, a safe injecting facility would cause one within “days of that centre opening”.

“It’s what we’re most concerned about… and trying to keep the city safe in terms of trying to deal with the other fallout in terms of other crimes - property crime, crimes against the person, robberies and assaults - that are likely to be incurred as a result of (the injecting room) coming to the scene,” he said.

“These are all the side effects that come from, I suppose, incentivising drug use in the city and incentivising drug trafficking, and it will have an impact on the workload of police officers.”

Mr Gatt said the Melbourne CBD was “a very complex policing environment” and an injecting room would only divert police resources away from other stations and patrols.

“It follows naturally that when you bring a safe drug injecting facility in the CBD, you’ll bring work with it for the police and in bucket loads, and we’ve seen this in (the Richmond injecting room) - it has intensified the work for our police officers in Richmond,” he said.

“Unless the government were to dump a significant number of police on us, specifically for the management of a safe drug injecting facility in the city, undoubtedly Victoria Police would have to divert resources from other work that it’s doing today.”

Mr Gatt said while he accepts a medically supervised drug injecting facility may reduce pressure on ambulances and save lives, he doesn’t agree it should be located in the CBD.

“Why don’t you stick it in a hospital? Because that’s where we save lives and we store ambulances,” Mr Gatt said.

“We’re not against people getting help or treatment, but we’re just saying you’ve got to recognise this comes at a cost and the side effects - the side effects of this initiative will be an increased toll on police.”

Premier Daniel Andrews this week confirmed the government had purchased the Yooralla building on Flinders St – opposite Flinders St Station and around the corner from Degraves St – as a potential safe injecting room site but was still considering multiple CBD locations.