Greens want debate on pill testing after music festival deaths

The Greens are trying to pressure parliament to debate their bill for a pill-testing trial following the death of two men at a music festival in Sydney last month.

Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann will present her drug checking bill for a second reading. It would allow organisations – including festival organisers – to apply for one of three mobile licences, and one fixed site licence, to conduct pill testing.

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said pressure is mounting on the NSW government to take action on festival deaths.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The NSW government has no plans to introduce pill testing, with Premier Chris Minns arguing it’s not a one-stop solution for preventing drug deaths.

“I don’t want to give anyone … an impression that pill testing is a silver bullet that will stop every harm happening at a festival,” he said last week.

Minns has said he would not consider pill testing or any other major reforms until after a promised drug summit takes place. That summit is yet to be scheduled.

A spokesperson said the NSW government would work to implement “sensible harm reduction initiatives” to support a safe environment at festivals.

“Pill testing may test for the presence of particular compounds in a pill or capsule, but not all. It also doesn’t take into account an individual’s physiology. It therefore does not indicate a pill is safe to consume,” the spokesperson said.

Faehrmann hopes to garner support from the crossbench, with Legalise Cannabis MLC Jeremy Buckingham and Labor’s Stephen Lawrence voicing their support for pill testing in parliament last week.

Under the proposed law, licence holders would be required to inform the Chief Health Officer, the NSW Police Commissioner and the NSW Health Deputy Secretary about new contaminants and drugs with high potencies within 24 hours, and submit a report of their findings to be tabled in parliament.

It follows the death of two festivalgoers at the Knockout Outdoor festival at the Sydney Showground in Olympic Park in late September.

Faehrmann said the government did not need new legislation to set up pill testing, but the bill would put pressure on them to act.

“I want pill testing available before and after the drug summit to demonstrate that it’s possible and can be done very quickly,” she said.

The testing services exist to alert drug users to dangerous contaminants and to educate people about the risks involved and strategies to stay safe, Faehrmann said.

But she warned that these safeguard measures would be useless without a change in policing tactics.

“People at festivals are no doubt going into the toilet cubicles and taking their drugs all at once because there are so many police and dogs walking through the crowds,” she said.

Harm Reduction Australia and Pill Testing Australia president Gino Vumbaca said drug-checking services could not operate without the support of government and the police.

“The bill would remove any doubt about our permission to operate,” he said. “Politicians are way behind the community when it comes to what people support. This is a public health program to help people get home safely, it’s not promoting or condoning drug use.”

A 2019 Australian Election Study survey found 63 per cent of Australians supported pill testing.

Housing Minister Rose Jackson and Transport Minister Jo Haylen previously voiced their support for pill testing, although were later rebuked by Minns for making “running commentary” on the issue.

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