Flinders Street injecting room will hurt Melbourne restaurants after Covid

A drug injecting room in Melbourne’s CBD would be a kick in the teeth for restaurants, trying to recover from Covid lockdowns.

Restaurateurs in Melbourne CBD have called on the state government to consider their struggling industry as they weigh up the best location for a second safe injecting room.

Flinders St has emerged as the frontrunner for the planned injecting room, originally slated for a site near Queen Victoria Market, as the state government seeks to ease pressure off its Richmond facility.

But traders have become increasingly worried about the location and have warned the state about the impact that a likely site close to Degraves St could have on the tourist hub.

Restaurants and Catering Australia chief Wes Lambert, whose organisation represents tens of thousands of businesses in Victoria, said the proposed site was a kick in the teeth when the industry was still struggling to recover.

“Any state programs or city led programs must take into account the businesses they affect around them,” he said.

“It’s very important that the city and state take all businesses into account when considering things such as injecting centres.

Embattled city restaurateurs are calling on the state government to reconsider the site of the second safe injecting room. Photo: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

“Melbourne’s CBD restaurant trade remains down from 2019. It will not recover until no one is working from home, people return to offices and until we have international tourists.

“It will take a concerted effort to make sure it is a domestic tourist destination.”

Drug taking and overdoses are a serious problem in the southern end of the CBD, with Health Minister Martin Foley last week saying Flinders St was a hotspot and that the site was most effective where the need was greatest.

Prominent restaurateur Chris Lucas, who owns popular Flinders Lane eatery Chin Chin, said the city needed to be “vibrant and accessible to families and workers alike”.

“It should be a place where visitors and workers should feel safe,’’ he said.

“Surely our hospitals should be a better place to handle such a service which is best designed to provide necessary support for addicts without putting the public and livelihoods of local business owners at risk.”

Chin Chin owner Chris Luca said the city needed to be “vibrant and accessible to families and workers alike”. Picture: Jason Edwards

It comes after the Saturday Herald Sun revealed Melbourne city councillor Jason Chang had been attacked at his Japanese grocery store on Thursday, sparking a plea to ensure anti-social behaviour did not jeopardise the city’s recovery.

City of Melbourne councillors are expected to debate the issue this week, with some opposing the room outright while council management are expected to call for assurances the room won’t impact residents and businesses.

A state government spokesman said a preferred site had not been finalised and that police, the City of Melbourne and other groups would be consulted.

“We know there are many causes of anti-social behaviour, whether mental health, homelessness or drug use – which is why we are investing a record $3.8 billion to fix our broken mental health system and rebuild it from the ground up and investing a record $5.3 billion on social housing so that every Victorian has a place to call home,” he said.