‘Flinders Street Injection Room,’ In The Process
- coo00235
- May 17, 2021
- 2 min read
Flinders Street could be the new location for Melbourne‘s second ‘safe injecting room’. The Victorian Nealth Minister, Martin Foley stated that the Enterprize Park off Flinders Street would be the new site for the project, but also said that the process Is still under away.
”The site is now expected to be at the southern end of the city on Flinders Street, west of Swanston Street,” a Herald Sun report said. Originally, it was to be set up in the area of the Victorian Market in ten CBD‘s northern fringe. Owner of Doherty’s Gym, Flinders Street, Tony Doherty, heckled the idea saying that “it’s a terrible place for is ... I can’t think of a worse spot”.
”So nothing is ruled in and nothing is ruled out,” he told the ABC.
”I can say there are no plans to place the second trial at Enterprize Park.”
”What we can do this time around is make sure every agency, every support system is in place to make sure people get the support that they need.”
On the other hand, Ben Vasiliou, the chief executive of the youth projects charity, said there was overwhelming evidence that a safe injecting room was needed and having it at the southern end of Flinders Street made sense.
”But no one want‘s it in their backyard,” he told the ABC.
Last week, Victorian crossbench MP Fiona Patten advocated safe injecting rooms for St Kilda, Footscray and Dandenong, as well as the proposed site and the current location in North Richmond.
But Acting Premier James Merlino said the government did not support expanding the program beyond a second site. The location of the second room is currently subject to a consultation process being run by former police chief commissioner Ken Lay.
The supervised injecting centre at North Richmond, which opened in 2018, has been controversial due to its proximity to a school. But Mr Merlino insists the North Richmond centre is saving lives and other initial problems have improved.
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