4.20pm EST
16:20
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has called for a health-first approach to alcohol and other drug use.
It comes following reports of the Reason Party’s Fiona Patten introducing a private members bill to institute a decriminalisation model in Victoria.
Instead of a punitive approach via the criminal justice system, Victorian police would instead issue a mandatory notice and referral to drug education or treatment to people possessing a drug of dependence or who are believed to have used a drug of dependence.
Compliance with this process would result in no finding of guilt or criminal record.
It is similar to the Portuguese model introduced in 2001. Of the more than 32,000 drug arrests in Victoria in the year leading up to September 2021, 80% were for drug use or possession only rather than trafficking large drug quantities.
RACGP president Dr Karen Price said that saving lives and reducing harm must always come first:
Alcohol and other drug use is, primarily, a health issue that should be managed by health professionals, including GPs.
Almost everyone knows someone who has been negatively affected by alcohol or other drug use in some form, it cuts across all demographics and all segments of society. So, if you declare a ‘war on drugs’ you are declaring war on someone’s partner, family member, colleague, or friend – it just makes no sense.
Instead, we should treat drug and alcohol use as a health issue that, with the right kind of care and support, can be successfully treated and managed.
4.05pm EST
16:05
The Victorian Greens are set to introduce a bill to state parliament that would legislate a target to eliminate homelessness by 2030.
The Human Rights and Housing Legislation Amendment (Ending Homelessness) Bill 2022, to be tabled by leader Samantha Ratnam on Wednesday, would amend the Housing Act to set a zero per cent homelessness target by the end of the decade, and ensure the Victorian government created a plan to achieve it.
It would also update the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities to include housing as a human right.
In a statement, Ratnam said:
Homelessness is the number one social justice issue facing Victoria right now. And while the Victorian Labor government has made some progress to provide more social housing, they’ve chronically underspent on what we need most: more public homes.
In fact, after spending the least of all states across Australia on public and community housing over the years, successive Victorian state governments have directly contributed to a public housing waiting list that now exceeds 100,000 people.
And until the government addresses this, more and more Victorians will be forced into housing stress and homelessness.
