Father Tony Percy attacks ACT tactics to decriminalise drugs
A former senior member of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has criticised the ACT government for the way it passed legislation decriminalising some drugs, calling its tactics ‘appalling’.
A former senior member of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn has criticised the ACT government for the way it passed legislation decriminalising some drugs, calling its tactics “appalling” and raising alarm over whether the same “lack of due process” will be applied to its looming voluntary assisted dying laws.
Former vicar general Tony Percy – who has gone toe to toe with the ACT government in recent months over its forced acquisition of the Calvary Hospital – said he was becoming increasingly concerned over the “total lack of transparency” in how major reforms progressed.
“This just feeds into the Calvary incident where there is a lack of due process and governance, no question at all,” he said.
“And then there’s the questions about risk aversion, which absolutely should be asked. What’s this going to do to the health system and to people?”
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith earlier this month revealed her government took the commitment to decriminalise drugs “quietly” to the 2020 election and purposefully chose to introduce the reforms through a private member’s bill rather than government legislation. “If the government had tried to do it, I tell you what it would have taken two years to develop the legislation … and we would have had to deal with all this risk aversion and complexity,” she said.
Father Percy said he was personally uncomfortable about the move to decriminalise the possession of drugs under certain thresholds, including cocaine, heroin and ice.
“I did a funeral a little while ago and the mother of these eight kids … died of an overdose,” he said. “And here we have a health minister saying ‘go ahead with this sort of thing’.”
The ACT laws will decriminalise the possession of 1.5g or less of amphetamine, cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA and magic mushrooms and 1g or less of heroin. The possession of 0.001g or less of LSD will also be decriminalised. Those in possession of the drugs under the set thresholds will be given either a $100 fine or direction to attend an assessment or harm reduction session.
Ms Stephen-Smith has defended her comments revealing the government deliberately went to the election with the policy “quietly”, saying she only meant she hadn’t wanted to “shout it from the rooftops” for fear of stigmatising those using drugs.
But Father Percy said Ms Stephen-Smith’s comments on how the ACT government was able to “quickly” legislate its policy demonstrated the government was being “disingenuous and dishonest” with constituents.
“The other issue that’s going to come up now is with voluntary assisted dying laws … and the government now is a law unto itself,” he said.
The Australian revealed the ACT government was considering allowing people as young as 14 to be eligible for VAD, after the territory was given the power to make such laws by the federal parliament last year.
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