Lawson Street, South Sydney Herald, 2004.

John Stapleton

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