0:02

A listener production. Victoria

0:08

has announced it will conduct pill

0:11

testing at festivals this summer. It

0:13

comes after the Labor government consistently

0:15

pushed back against the measure. But

0:17

Premier Jacinta Allen has confirmed the

0:19

program will go ahead in response

0:21

to new figures that show Victorian

0:23

paramedics responded to more drug overdoses

0:25

at festivals in the first three

0:27

months of 2024 than

0:30

during all of last year. The

0:32

Victorian Greens, the Animal Justice Party

0:34

and Legalised Cannabis Victoria have welcomed

0:36

the announcement that follows their joint

0:39

pill testing for drug harm reduction bill,

0:41

which was introduced earlier this year. One

0:44

of the signatories to that bill was Animal

0:46

Justice MP Georgie Purcell and we'll talk to

0:48

her in a moment. First though, I'm joined

0:50

by Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen who's here to

0:52

talk through the new policy. Premier, thanks so

0:54

much for joining us on the briefing today.

0:57

Look, this has been a really long

0:59

time coming for advocates of pill testing.

1:01

Why the change in position from the

1:03

Victorian government? Well, firstly,

1:06

the evidence is really clear. When

1:08

you give young people honest, open,

1:10

health-focused facts about the drug or

1:12

the pill that they're potentially planning

1:14

on consuming, when you give them

1:17

that advice about what's in the

1:19

actual pill, what substances are in

1:21

it, we know that reduces the

1:23

likelihood that they will consume that

1:25

pill. And so this is both

1:28

taking an evidence-based approach, but also

1:30

it's reflecting reality. If a young

1:32

person particularly has already has a

1:34

pill in their hand, they're intending

1:36

to consume it. And so we

1:38

know that pill testing is a way that

1:41

you can have honest, open, nonjudgmental,

1:44

factual-based discussions with the potential to

1:46

save lives. And that is why

1:48

we are introducing pill testing into

1:51

Victoria from this year. It's

1:53

very different to what you said at the start of

1:55

the year when we had a number of drug overdoses

1:57

at a number of festivals

1:59

in Victoria. Victoria, your

2:01

comments said if people are concerned

2:03

about substances, don't consume them. What's

2:06

been the journey for you to come to the

2:08

decision that pill testing actually is a great idea

2:10

for, you know, like you said, young people are

2:12

going to experiment with drugs no

2:15

matter what. We should give them a

2:17

space to test them and make sure that they're as

2:19

safe as they possibly can be. Well,

2:22

Sasha, I want to be clear

2:24

that the message remains the same.

2:27

No drug is safe. No drug is

2:29

safe and certainly pill testing does not

2:31

make drugs legal and that message will

2:34

remain the same. But what I also

2:36

said earlier this year was that I

2:38

was open to having information,

2:40

evidence, advice from the experts. And

2:43

what we've been doing over

2:45

the last few months is getting the advice

2:47

from the health experts, looking

2:49

at the evidence from the jurisdictions that

2:51

already have pill testing and the evidence

2:54

is overwhelming in terms of the impact

2:56

and the difference it makes. But also

2:58

too, as a parent, I've been talking

3:00

to other parents. Many of

3:02

us have the same experience. Well, wanting to

3:04

make sure our kids as they grow up

3:06

and go out into the world, they enjoy

3:08

themselves, but they do it safely. And

3:11

sometimes as a parent, you can't help but think,

3:14

what can we do to help keep

3:16

young people safe? What happens if the

3:18

worst happens? And we know for some

3:20

parents, Sasha, that is the reality. And

3:23

it's based on the evidence, based on

3:25

those conversations and also based on being

3:27

a mum as well, that we have

3:29

come to this position to introduce pill

3:31

testing in Victoria from this year. Tell

3:33

us about the trial. How will it

3:35

work? So the trial will run for up

3:37

to 18 months. Once

3:39

legislation has passed through the Victorian

3:41

Parliament, we will start with mobile

3:44

sites at music festivals, up to

3:46

10 music festivals over the summer

3:48

period. And also too, we will

3:50

do the work to identify at

3:52

least one fixed site that will

3:54

be located around one

3:56

of the existing nightlife precincts around

3:59

the UK. No,

6:00

this trial is an implementation trial.

6:02

It's not about whether we should

6:05

or we shouldn't introduce pill testing

6:07

into Victoria. The government is saying

6:09

today it absolutely should be because

6:11

it works. What we are

6:13

wanting to trial, whether it's

6:15

at the mobile sites or at the

6:17

fixed locations, is the best way

6:19

to deliver the service, the best way to

6:21

deliver the health service. And to do that,

6:23

we need to go and talk with the

6:26

health agencies who we know are very keen

6:28

to work with us. And Sasha, if I

6:30

can also just make the point

6:32

that you mentioned the fixed side.

6:34

That fixed side won't be in

6:36

Melbourne CBD. It'll be in the

6:38

inner suburbs around the Melbourne CBD,

6:40

where the predominance of, I don't

6:42

want to sound too old here,

6:45

but where the nightlife is, where

6:47

there might be the more nightlife

6:49

activity will take place. Look,

6:53

finally, Premier, before we let you go, I'm

6:55

curious as to what you would say to

6:57

critics who worry that this will encourage drug

6:59

use and make it seem okay to

7:01

people who are dabbling in that. Do

7:03

you have a response to those critics?

7:06

Well, if young people are reaching out

7:08

and are asking for information about their

7:10

health, about their safety, and we have

7:12

the power to give that to them,

7:14

then why on earth wouldn't we? That

7:17

was Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen. Let's go

7:19

now to Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell

7:22

to get her perspective on the program.

7:24

Georgie, thanks so much for joining us on the briefing.

7:26

Look, first things first, do you think this is a

7:29

good policy? Does it go as far as you had

7:31

wanted it to? This is

7:33

an incredible policy. As far as

7:35

I can tell, without seeing the

7:37

legislation which will come before Parliament,

7:39

before the years out, it basically

7:41

mirrors what myself, Legalised Cannabis Victoria

7:44

and the Victorian Greens proposed in

7:46

Parliament only months ago. What

7:49

I really hope is this trial

7:51

turns into a permanent setting, which

7:53

we'll know after 18 months. Why

7:55

do you think the Victorian Government decided

7:57

now's the time to change its position?

7:59

and change its policy on pill testing.

8:02

This has been around and talked about

8:04

and debated for more than

8:06

a decade. Why did it take

8:08

them so long? Why now? Look, we

8:10

always say that politics is always far

8:13

behind public opinion, but the evidence

8:15

was clear. We saw what happened in

8:18

the last summer festival season. We saw

8:20

many, many people hospitalise young people with

8:22

their whole lives ahead of them that

8:24

could have died from unsafe drugs. Of

8:26

course, there is also the power of

8:28

the crossbench in the Victorian Parliament. The

8:31

government doesn't have the balance of power

8:33

in the upper house, and they rely

8:35

on people like myself and my

8:37

colleagues in order to pass their legislative agenda.

8:39

And we've been pushing really, really hard on

8:42

this issue. There's also been pressure from health

8:44

professionals and coroners who are saying this

8:47

is the right thing to do. It's

8:49

evidence based and it's health based and

8:51

it will save lives. I

8:53

know there'd be a part of you that's disappointed that

8:55

it's taken so long. But do you

8:58

just wish this had happened six months ago

9:00

after we saw all those hospitalisations, after Hard

9:02

Mission Festival, the potential to have

9:04

saved lives in the last six months, let

9:06

alone the last few decades? Yeah,

9:08

I absolutely wish that the government came

9:10

to the table on this issue sooner,

9:12

but I'm really grateful that the new

9:14

premier has done that. Of course, our

9:16

former premier in Victoria, Daniel Andrews, was

9:19

absolutely opposed to drug checking. But

9:21

it's great that Jacinta Allen has listened to

9:23

the science, listened to the evidence and listened

9:25

to the community. And most importantly, listen to

9:28

young people who are smart enough

9:30

to follow the advice and follow the evidence.

9:33

We need to put our trust in them

9:35

to use this service and to do

9:37

the right thing when they are using drugs. For

9:39

many of us, it is a reality of growing

9:41

up. And of course, I know that as one

9:43

of the youngest members of the Victorian Parliament. I'm

9:45

not naive. I know that this is what people

9:47

do. So if they are going to do it,

9:50

they need to do it in the safest way

9:52

possible. Of course, we could have helped people in

9:54

the last festival season, the season before that, 10

9:57

years ago, but at least we'll be able to

9:59

this one. are coming forward

10:01

and hopefully in the years ahead. Before

10:03

we let you go, the criticism will

10:05

inevitably come up that this encourages drug

10:07

use, that it normalises it, that people

10:09

go, oh, well, there's pill testing. That

10:11

must mean taking pills is healthy and

10:13

safe. What's your response

10:15

to those critics of policies like pill testing?

10:18

We have the evidence to show that

10:20

pill testing does not increase drug use.

10:23

In fact, it lessens drug use

10:25

because people will dispose of unsafe

10:27

drugs. A really important thing about

10:29

a fixed site service is that

10:31

we can send out health alerts

10:33

to people year round about unsafe

10:35

drugs, unsafe substances in the community

10:37

that are travelling around. Other

10:40

states in this country have seen the disposal

10:42

of those drugs. We've seen it around the

10:44

world where drug checking is in place. The

10:47

Victorian opposition who are pushing this narrative, they

10:49

need to get a grip. We know that people

10:51

are already using these drugs and if they are

10:53

going to do so, we need to ensure that

10:56

they're doing it in the safest way possible. Members

10:58

of parliament are people, I can guarantee

11:01

the people pushing against this now have

11:03

used drugs before in their lifetime. Their

11:05

children are using drugs. I'm sure they

11:08

don't want to see them hospitalised or

11:10

killed. This is a great thing for

11:12

the Victorian community. It's not about so-called

11:14

progressive policy. It's about health-based policy and

11:17

importantly, it will lighten the

11:19

load on our very, very overstrained

11:21

hospital service and ambulance services right now. So it's

11:23

a good thing for all Victorians even if they

11:26

are not drug users. Georgie Purcell, thanks so much

11:28

for your time today. I know this is probably

11:30

a big win in your

11:32

book. So congratulations on campaigning for

11:35

pill testing for so long. You got there. Well

11:37

done. Thank you so much.

11:39

That was Victorian Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell

11:41

and that is it for today's briefing. Thanks

11:43

so much for listening. Before you

11:45

go, we would love it if you could share this episode

11:48

with someone if you think they might enjoy it. And

11:50

if you want to keep up with our

11:52

other content, we are on Instagram at the

11:54

briefing podcast. We're also on TikTok and YouTube,

11:56

search listener newsroom. I'm Sasha Barba Gatt. See

11:59

you next time. time.