RESIDENTS, homeowners, police, shopkeepers and the aboriginal
community of Lawson Street and the immediate surrounds have slammed
the Carr Government’s determination to place an unwanted $1.5 million
drug, alcohol and needle exchange service in a residential area to replace the
Redfern’s old “needle bus”. News, via an announcement from the Premier
Bob Carr, that the old Alleena Centre at the top of the street near Redfern
Station will become a needle exchange came as a shock to residents, who
had not been consulted on the move, and has been met with hostility from
almost everyone with a stake in the future of the area.
Half a dozen families with young children live within 50 metres of the front
door of the planned centre. One of the chief criticisms of the needle bus was
its location close to a park where children played. Organisations to come out
against the Lawson Street proposal include the Aboriginal Medical Service,
the Aboriginal Housing Company and the Police Association. Community
group REDWatch has criticised the complete lack of consultation. Residents
on the street have formed the Lawson Street Action Group and circulated a
widely supported petition calling on the NSW government to abandon the
scheme.
Sydney Lord Mayer Clover Moore said it was unfortunate “there was no
consultation about location and that key Aboriginal organisations such as
Aboriginal medical service and Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land
Council” did not feel part of the process.
But it is not just the aboriginal community that was not consulted. What is
remarkable about the blanket opposition to the proposal is that this is one of
the most leftwing precincts in Australia, where support for harm
minimization drug policies is strong.
The Carr government is already showing signs of ducking for cover on the
issue. A spokeswoman for Frank Sartor, responsible for the Redfern
Waterloo Authority, could offer no explanation as to why the street’s
residents, aboriginal health services and the police had not been consulted.
Although the issue clearly concerns child welfare a spokeswoman for the
Minister for Community Services Carmel Tebutt claimed it was not her
responsibility and refused to comment on whether placing a needle exchange
next to young children was appropriate.
In a glossy brochure distributed to households in the area the government
claimed the new community health facility would assist in responding to
needs identified in the Interim Report on the Inquiry into Issues relating to
Redfern-Waterloo and the Report on the Review of Human Services in
Redfern and Waterloo. Both reports noted the need for detoxification and
other drug and alcohol related services in the area. Neither report
recommended the creation of a facility in Lawson Street. The Interim Report
is clear in recommending that the Needle Exchange Bus be placed “away
from the residential area to a nearby industrial area.
The brochure said the service would include “treatment and care of drug
related injuries, provision of sterile injecting equipment, drug and alcohol
assessments and referrals” and specialist services would include “mental
health and sexual health services” and HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis screening.
The facility is scheduled for completion by the middle of 2005 and will cost
$1.5 million to establish and $550,000 annually. Bizarrely, the brochure also
claimed it would provide antenatal and post natal care, although there are no
examples of any centre in Australia which successfully combines a needle
exchange service with general health services for pregnant women or young
babies.
Ignoring local anger over the centre, Bob Carr said the area was a known
haven for drug dealers and users. “It will deliver a range of health services to
this disadvantaged area,” Mr Carr said. “Our goal is to clean up the area to
see that it functions better.’’
The Premier’s office, when asked by the South Sydney Herald if the Premier
personally condoned placed a needle exchange next door to where children
are living, responded that the NSW government is “committed to providing
health care services for the entire community.” When asked if the Premier
was personally aware that children were living next door to the proposed
methadone clinic and needle exchange his office sidestepped the question
and responded that the state government was proposing to establish a
“community health facility in Lawson Street that will provide primary health
care services for the entire community. This includes access to medical
services, nurses health care workers and health education workers. Needle
and syringe provision will be only one aspect of the health care services
provided.”
The Premier’s office went on to claim that in establishing the “health centre”
they were responding to needs identified in various inquiries that there was a
“high incidence of co-existing drug and alcohol and mental health issues in
key population groups”, people with mental health problems and “young
people with high unemployment levels and drug and alcohol issues”. These
issues do not exist amongst the actual residents on Lawson Street. Most of
the people who live on the street are fully employed and own their own
homes or are students renting accommodation close to Sydney University.
Local police described the plan to replace the Block’s needle van at The
Block with a needle exchange in the residential heart of Redfern as
“madness”. “Where you have a needle exchange, you get heroin addicts, and
where you get heroin addicts, you get an increase in crime,” Constable Paul
Huxtable said. “That is the simple reality of the situation. It's madness. It just
doesn't seem sensible at all and it flies in the face of the government inquiry
which said it should be built at the northern end of Redfern in an industrial
area.”
In a letter to the Premier Dr Naomi Watts, Chief Executive of Redfern’s
Aboriginal Medical Service, now housed in a spanking new centre nearby,
said no one consulted with them or any other aboriginal run organisation.
“To say that I am livid with rage would be an understatement. And let me
tell you I am not alone. There is universal anger amongst all the local
Aboriginal agencies. Once again we have a perfect example of a government
riding roughshod over agreed policy and established procedure. I sincerely
hope that you will reconsider your proposal and that your government will
honour the terms of the Aboriginal Partnership Agreement so that we can
sensibly progress the important issues in relation to drug and alcohol
problems locally.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Housing Company Mick Mundine
said: “Get rid of it. We don’t want it.” He dismissed the claims that the
centre would provide postnatal care for young mothers as nonsense: “You
can’t have children mixed up with giving out needles. It is sending the
message there are still drugs on the block. No one is going to take their
children to a needle exchange. No one wants it here. You are bringing
junkies right on to Lawson Street when we are trying to get drugs out of the
area. We have all had enough.”
Craig Ketnell, who lives literally next door to the proposed Centre with his
pregnant wife and young daughter, has formed the Lawson Street Action
Group. “This is not a harm minimisation debate, it is about the location of a
centre which will bring hundreds upon hundreds of people with serious
mental health and addiction problems on to our doorsteps,” he said. “In this
state you cannot build a brothel next door to where children are living, so
how can you build a needle exchange and methadone clinic?”
The petition he has organised to be presented to Bob Carr has received
almost universal support.
“In conjunction with the aboriginal community a lot of good has been done
in this area in minimising the drug problem since