Dr WOODRUFF (Franklin – Leader of the Greens) – Honourable Speaker, the Greens have been campaigning for Tasmania to have a safe pill testing service in this state for at least the time that I have been in parliament.
Dr David Caldicott from the ACT visited and told a whole range of MPs about the lifesaving service they had introduced into the ACT, and that trials were underway between the hospital, the ANU and the health department. That ultimately led to the formalisation of pill testing services in the ACT because they saved lives and because they meant that people threw away drugs that would have been dangerous. The process of people showing and getting their pills tested at festivals showed them the contents and let them understand what was in the pills.
The evidence from the ACT and also a very big trial that was done in New Zealand of over 2000 people show that when people understand what is in that drug, which is an illicit drug that comes without any information about its contents and is often made on a black market in a trafficking situation – which to be clear, the Greens abhor – that is a dangerous space for people to purchase drugs in. It shows that they can be made with a whole range of incredibly harmful substances, some of which end people’s lives because they are so toxic. When they see that, more than 40 per cent of people bin the drugs they were intending to take. That’s four out of 10 young people who walk through the door who would have taken a drug with a poisonous substance in it who choose to throw it away. An additional three out of 10 choose to take a far lower dose than the dose they were going to take.
One of the big concerns is that young people don’t have any sense about the differences in body size or their own physiology, so you have young, slender women taking the same number of drugs as big guys. They also learnt not to take drugs with alcohol and other drugs, a toxic mix which can also lead to death. In the coroner’s report on the tragic deaths of six young people in New South Wales in 2020, she was so clear that pill testing promotes safe behaviour. It promotes behaviour change. It doesn’t lead to a false sense of security, which is what I heard the minister or somebody else mention. Far from it: actually, it pulls the rug out from many people. That’s because it’s very difficult for young people to get information in a space that they trust.
The evidence shows from the ACT, Victoria, Queensland, New Zealand and the more than 28 countries that have provided safe pill testing for their residents, that it’s the education process in a trusted environment within a context like a festival, that they trust and believe. This is within the context of having the police on site. They work together in the other states where this happens, so it’s a very clear, bounded and professional process of providing people with good information.
Despite the fact that I’m disappointed that today the minister hasn’t said she’s going to announce pill testing in Tasmania, I’m heartened to hear her say that currently there’s no plans, because what we know from the Party in the Paddock is that they tried really hard. I hear what you’re saying about liability for festival owners. Festivals are up against it trying to get a festival run, but there are solutions to these things, other states have shown it and this is a role for the government to help festivals. It’s not the only place. We can have fixed pill testing services. They have long been called for by the alcohol and drug advocacy community in Tasmania, that’s what happens in other states.
Like the needle and syringe program, which has been ongoing in Australia since the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, this is actually about all parties and all governments coming together to recognise that this saves lives. It saves young people’s lives. It stops the harm that the honourable member for Clark was talking about. It’s not just the deaths, it’s the harm.
Time expired.
