‘I’m not sure what they’re hiding from’: Long-awaited drug summit criticised as secretive

The Minns government’s long-promised drug summit has been criticised for being secretive and sanitised just days before it starts, with key figures having to ask for invites and the media barred from attending the bulk of the conference.

After pressure late on Wednesday, Health Minister Ryan Park backed down from the controversial decision to hold the event behind closed doors, promising to open “additional parts of the summit” to the media.

An iconic photo on the front page in 1999 convinced then premier Bob Carr to hold a drug summit. Two decades later, NSW Labor is holding another oneCredit: Dominic Lorrimer

His decision followed an outpouring of criticism from within the sector, which remains concerned about a lack of organisation behind the event.

Joe Coyte, executive director of The Glen, the largest Aboriginal community-controlled drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in NSW, was originally told he would not be invited to either regional summit, and he obtained an invitation only after pushing.

Coyte, also acting chief executive of Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Residential Rehabilitation Network, said he was concerned about a lack of transparency around the summit, with “very limited information” on what would happen, who was invited and what outcomes it was hoping to achieve. He called it “the drug summit that you have when you don’t really want to have a drug summit”.

The summit starts on Friday in Griffith, followed by a forum in Lismore on Monday and two days in Sydney in December. Co-chaired by former NSW Labor deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt and former Liberal opposition leader John Brogden, it is meant to bring together stakeholders, police and people with lived experiences to provide perspectives on health outcomes for people affected by drugs.

The landmark Ice Inquiry commissioned under the Berejiklian government which recommended the decriminalisation of drug possession in NSW held open and closed sessions during 14 months of hearings. They included evidence from people giving testimony about their experience with drug addiction.

Following criticism from the drug sector, Park defended the summit as meaningful, saying it would include “those from the justice space listening to those with lived experience of addiction”.

“I think that’s going to be powerful,” he said.

“We are attempting to draw on and then bring together the experiences of hundreds of people from wide-ranging backgrounds with diverse views while charting a path forward … meaningfully and sensitively. Not everyone will agree, but I do want every voice to be heard.”

Liberal health spokeswoman Kellie Sloane said providing a safe environment for people with lived experience of drug addiction was imperative but solving some of the challenges was impossible “behind closed doors with a blanket of secrecy silencing all attendees”.

“The concern I am hearing from some stakeholders is that this process has been far from transparent, with secrecy around the agenda, and an invite list that was tightly held,” she said.

Matt Noffs, the CEO of the Noffs Foundation, a drug addiction treatment service, said it would not lead to the kind of breakthroughs which followed Bob Carr’s 1999 drug summit, but could still lead to progress on issues such as cannabis laws.

“It’ll be dubbed the ‘boring but better than nothing’ summit,” he said. “Should we feel let down? Sadly, in this climate, we’re the beggars in the drug field. We need to fight for every bit of progress we can.

“We won’t see injecting rooms or decriminalisation but pill testing and changes to cannabis laws might just make it across the finish line. Exciting? Barely. But snail’s pace is better than outright prohibition and no pace at all.“

Sam Kidd, campaign director at drug reform advocacy organisation Unharm, said he became aware that media participation would be banned only late on Wednesday afternoon.

“The government is not super-keen on having huge amounts of public participation around the drug summit,” Kidd said. “They have dragged the ball on taking action.”

Greens drug law reform and harm reduction spokesperson Cate Faehrmann slammed the decision, saying the four-day event should be an open and transparent forum.

“It feels extraordinary to have an event like this and have it closed off to the media,” she said, adding it paled in comparison to the “intense discussion and debate” 25 years ago.

“I’m not sure what they’re hiding from, but it’s not a good decision.”

Park said providing a safe environment for people with lived experience was one of his “top priorities”.

“People with lived experiences of addiction have told us that opening this forum would put them in an impossible position and they would find it difficult to participate fully and freely,” he said.

“The deliberations will be communicated to the community in a way that maintains the confidence of people who have shared their experiences.”

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