Melbourne drug injecting room dropped against advice

Melbourne’s CBD will not get a supervised drug injecting room despite a government-commissioned report finding desperate need for the facility.

Premier Jacinta Allan said a location that struck the right balance between helping users and support from the local community could not be found, instead opting to provide more medical interventions.

Ms Allan acknowledged the government had previously backed a second injecting centre in the CBD and had spent a lot of time trying to find a site.

“We are unwilling to spend more time when we have the opportunity to take action now on strengthening supports, strengthening interventions, supporting people with addiction challenges to take action to support them now”, Ms Allan told reporters on Tuesday.

“That is why a second injecting service in the CBD is not our plan and it won’t be proceeding.”

The government will instead spend $95 million on health programs including $36.4 million to establish a new community health hub on Flinders Street and $21.3 million to increase community outreach teams.

It includes extra funds to be spent on more support services in the city, addiction treatments at health facilities across the state and a trial of hydromorphone medication for the seriously addicted.

A report from former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay recommended an injecting facility with four to six booths in the CBD, citing the death of one drug injector a month in the city.

The government received the report, which cost $270,000 to compile, in May 2023 and it was made public on Tuesday.

Mr Lay said there was widespread acknowledgement the city had a significant injecting drug problem but there were “mixed views” on what the policy and community response should be.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents surveyed for the report said there was no need for a supervised injecting service in the city, while 40 per cent said there was such a need.

In 2022, 549 Victorians died from drug overdoses and more than one in 10 fatal heroin overdoses occurred in the City of Melbourne.

Salvation Army Commanding Officer Brendan Nottle and Cohealth addiction medicine specialist Paul McCartney said they had mixed emotions on hearing a new facility would not be built.

First Steps chief executive Patrick Lawrence said the decision was “very, very sad” and a wasted opportunity as he was concerned people would continue to overdose in the city.

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said the CBD was missing out as the existing injecting room in North Richmond had safely delt with 6000 overdoses, equivalent to services provided by one ambulance station.

The Victorian opposition has never supported building more injecting rooms and leader John Pesutto hit out at what he described as a backflip from the government, claiming its new health strategy was “half baked”.

New Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said it was a “cowardly decision” and accused the government of backtracking on progressive reforms.

Mr Lay’s report identified several key hotspots for users, including three at intersections along Elizabeth Street and two others along Swanston Street.

Consultation on the government’s preferred site at 53 Victoria Street near the Queen Victoria Market indicated “broad support” for an injecting centre in the city, but local residents and businesses had concerns about the location, the report said.

Melbourne’s first injecting room opened in North Richmond on a trial basis in 2018 and was made permanent in 2023 after a review found it saved 63 lives.

It is mostly used by heroin users, who bring their own drugs and inject under supervision.

The average age of clients at the facility is 43, with each person given food and directed to health services such as doctors and dentists before leaving.

The facility was welcomed by health experts but some locals consider it controversial because it is next to a primary school.