NSW Labor MP speaks out in support over pill testing

A Labor MP has split with the Minns government over pill testing, urging the premier to undertake an “urgent” trial during this summer’s music festival season, saying the implementation could save lives.

In a speech to parliament on Thursday night, Cameron Murphy – the son of Lionel Murphy, an attorney-general in the Whitlam government and High Court justice – said the move was vital ahead of the upcoming drug summit.

New Labor MP Cameron Murphy has called for pill testing to be implemented as a trial over summer.Credit: Janie Barrett

“My immediate fear is that more people will die this summer if nothing is done. It is morally wrong not to act when we know this, and have the chance to protect people in NSW,” the member of the Legislative Council said.

“The case for the harm-minimising effects of pill-testing is solid enough that NSW should not delay in taking it up.”

The calls came after the state’s strip-searching laws came under scrutiny from legal experts and the crossbench after the Herald revealed NSW Police had used the powers against girls as young as 12.

On Thursday, Police Minister Yasmin Catley said she was scrutinising whether the policy settings surrounding the controversial policing method were fit for purpose. Legalise Cannabis MP Jeremy Buckingham said he would raise the issue in his first meeting with Premier Chris Minns next month.

Murphy’s argument in favour of pill testing was two-fold: first, the tragic deaths of two men at the Knockout Outdoor festival earlier in October underlined the number of dangerous drugs circulating in the community; second, the upcoming drug summit, promised by Labor ahead of the election, would be boosted by substantive, contemporary data.

Labor promised the summit would bring together experts to chart a pathway forward on reform. Frontbenchers Jo Haylen and Rose Jackson – both from party’s left wing – have been vocal advocates for drug reform.

The trial would not require new legislation and could be achieved through “existing frameworks”, said Murphy, a former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. He said NSW Health could issue licences to existing drug-checking services like Pill Testing Australia.

The services could work alongside university researchers or similar organisations to evaluate the pilot and provide analysis to the drug summit, Murphy said.

“Six people died of suspected overdoses at festivals during the summer of 2018-19; these are lives we could potentially save,” the 50-year-old said.

“We will also gather valuable evidence to inform long-term, evidence-based drug policy once the drug summit is held. From my perspective, a pill-testing trial this summer looks like a win-win for NSW.”

Despite the government’s implementation of a drug diversionary scheme aimed at overhauling the state’s approach to illicit substances, Minns has maintained his opposition to implementing pill testing this summer.

He has previously argued the approach is not a “silver bullet” to harm prevention, and he would wait for the Drug Summit before seeking to reform drug policy.

But Murphy said with festival season already underway, this summer presented the perfect opportunity for the government to test the system, providing local data to the evidence base from Portugal and the UK, in addition to a small trial in the ACT.

The call for a rethink comes less than 24 hours after Murphy declared the system underpinning the state’s strip search laws was “broken”, as pressure mounted on the Minns government to the controversial practice of strip-searching children.

During the debate in the upper house brought on by Buckingham on Wednesday, Murphy added his weight to calls for reform of the laws, saying the current system needed reform.

“I’ve spent my whole life virtually arguing against drug-sniffing dogs. Nothing has changed in terms of this,” he said. “This system, in my view, is broken. I know it’s a view that my party doesn’t share at the moment that they’re humiliating searches.”

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