North Richmond residents livid drug users are breaking social distancing rules and curfews
Residents surrounding the North Richmond supervised injecting room are furious that drug users are ignoring the lockdown rules and refusing to wear masks, while the centre does not have to abide by the city’s 8pm curfew.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The supervised injecting room in North Richmond remains open past Melbourne’s 8pm curfew as drug users flock to the area while the city is under strict lockdown.
Furious residents said drug users were injecting in the streets at all hours and were failing to wear masks or abide by social distancing measures.
The centre has remained open until 9pm on weekdays.
Mental Health Minister Martin Foley defended the injecting room’s hours and said it would “continue to save lives and ensure critical resources in the public health system needed to fight coronavirus are not diverted by drug overdoses”.
He also said leaving home for medical assistance under Stage 4 restrictions is allowed.
North Richmond resident Sharon, 55, said many users were flouting the restrictions.
“They should be wearing masks and they shouldn’t be spitting and vomiting in the streets, they should be respecting social distancing,” Sharon, who did not want to give her surname, said.
“You go down there to the centre at any time and there will be groups huddled around, they’re not abiding by the rules. There was one guy shooting up near a tree out the front of my house.”
Syringes have also been left discarded in the streets.
Dora Tsipouras, 53, who lives in Richmond, said her 75-year-old mother resided in one of the public housing towers nearby and was “frightened”.
“There’s social gatherings before and after curfew including drug injecting in the streets and in the public housing towers’ car park,” she said.
The centre opened in July 2018 and police have since made hundreds of arrests in the area.
Liberal MP Craig Ondarchie said the dealers were continuing to “come from all over Melbourne” to North Richmond and do drug deals up side streets.
“It seems Dan’s (Andrews) injecting room has a different set of rules to the rest of Victoria,” he said. “If Victorians are not required to travel more than 5km from their house except for four key reasons, if they are not getting medical attention at the centre and are gathering in other streets and getting fixes then they are breaking the law.”
Mr Andrews addressed the issue on Saturday, saying it was “no different to a hospital or emergency department”.
“The notion of changing those arrangements and effectively seeing less people able to access the care and support that they receive at that dedicated facility, will mean we go back to the sort of intolerable circumstances that saw us establish the supervised injecting facility,” he said
“And that was dozens and dozens of people dying alone in laneways. I don’t think that would be a very good outcome.”
MORE NEWS
CHILDCARE IN CRISIS AS WORKERS SACKED
500 CASES REFERRED TO POLICE FOR BREAKING ISO RULES