By Bianca Hall
The prospect of a medically supervised injecting room metres from Victoria’s Parliament House has drawn heated condemnation from the opposition and alarmed some city leaders, but advocates say it is a crucial and overdue facility that will save lives.
Three sources with knowledge of the negotiations who weren’t authorised to speak publicly told The Age that the Salvation Army building on Bourke Street is one of several sites under consideration by the government for Melbourne’s second injecting room. A spokesman for Mental Health Minister Gabrielle Williams said no decision had been made on the final location.
The Salvation Army’s building at 69 Bourke Street.Credit: Joe Armao
The Richmond injecting room has been open since June 2018 and has been credited with saving dozens of lives.
Premier Daniel Andrews committed in 2020 to opening a second facility after a review by Professor Margaret Hamilton, an executive member of the Australian National Council on Drugs, urged the government to open another facility in Melbourne’s CBD to care for drug users in the overdose hotspot.
The government had hoped to open a second facility in the former Yooralla building opposite Flinders Street Station, close to Degraves Street, because of its proximity to drug use and overdoses. But protests from residents and businesses meant that was put on the backburner.
The government spokesman said Williams was still considering an independent review by former police commissioner Ken Lay, which was delivered to her in May and included recommendations for preferred injecting facility sites.
The mother of a man who died of a drug overdose in the CBD said having an injecting room in the CBD would save lives.
Katrina Korver’s 38-year-old son Danial died in Rainbow Alley last year. His grieving parents stuck a laminated photo of their son near the spot where he died, accompanied by a note that reads: “Please use safe injecting rooms or always make sure someone is with you when injecting, it’s not worth the risk.”
“I’m greatly relieved that there’s a site under consideration,” Korver said.
The most recent data from the Coroners Court of Victoria reveals that in the two years to June 2022, 29 people died from heroin overdoses in the city centre – the highest number of any local government area.
Katrina Korver believes her son Danial would be alive if a safe-injecting room had opened in the CBD.Credit: Jason South
“It’s been a long time. And in the meantime, we’re losing one person a month in the Melbourne CBD,” Korver said. “These people shouldn’t be punished because they made a poor life decision once in their life, and if it was another chronic condition we would offer them a gold standard of health care.”
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the Salvation Army’s good work would be compromised by hosting an injection facility.
“[It] would bring the Salvation Army into a place that would jeopardise the great work that it does, providing services for our most disadvantaged Victorians; people who need our help,” he said. “Can anyone realistically imagine this is the right place to host a second injecting room?”
Mike Patrick is one of the owners of restaurant Fancy Hank’s, two doors up from the Salvation Army.
He said the Salvos were already “absolutely stretched” trying to care for disadvantaged Melburnians with inadequate support.
“I think it should be somewhere that’s already got existing infrastructure … attach it to the hospitals. Have it sit alongside St Vincent’s, which is 300 metres from where we are. It’s got 24-hour security, health professionals mental health support; it’s got everything that I think is required for something like this. You know, to put it in the middle of the theatre district in the middle of the city makes zero sense.”
Residents 3000 president Rafael Camillo said, “We already have enough problems in the city.”
“We don’t even have proper police [and] resource for these people. We’ve tried to revitalise this city [from COVID lockdowns] and bring back this city and bring back tourism, and they want to do this?”
Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Sally Capp.Credit: Paul Jeffers
Lord Mayor Sally Capp told 3AW on Wednesday the government had not consulted her about the Bourke Street site, and said the drawn-out decision-making was becoming “highly damaging”.
“The angst and the anxiety that comes from all of the rumours, and the rumour mill, is overwhelming for so many traders,” she said.
In March, 78 chief executives and leaders from community health organisations, churches, the drug and alcohol sector, and housing and legal services wrote a joint letter to Premier Daniel Andrews calling on him to push ahead with a CBD injecting room despite some criticism from business owners and residents about potential sites.
Brendan Nottle from the Salvation Army says a safe injecting room in the CBD will save lives.Credit: Justin McManus
Salvation Army commanding officer Brendan Nottle, who was one of the signatories, said after more than 20 years working in the CBD, he had seen firsthand the impacts of drug overdoses and drug-related deaths.
“I have said for many years we need a second supervised injecting room in the CBD because it will save lives,” he said.
“Any proposed location is a matter for the Victorian government and I will leave it to them to get on with their work.”
An independent report by public health expert John Ryan, released in February, found the Richmond injecting room had achieved its foremost objective of saving lives. The report estimated that 63 people were alive because of interventions at the centre. About 6000 people made almost 350,000 visits between June 2018 and September 2022, and 700 of them had started opioid treatment.
Capp said a medically supervised injecting room in the CBD must also have integrated health services, and called on the state government to resolve the question of where the facility would be located soon.
Korver said her son had received “wrap around” support for the first time at Richmond, where he was put on a pathway from homelessness, matched with a drug and alcohol worker, and his family brought in.
“I understand people’s concerns, but can you imagine the alternative? People would just die.”
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