Methadone Clinics (Residential Areas) Bill

About this Item
Speakers - Graham Mr Robert
Business - Bill, First Reading, Second Reading

METHADONE CLINICS (RESIDENTIAL AREAS) BILL

Bill introduced and read a first time.

Second Reading

Mr GRAHAM (The Entrance) [9.40]: I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I believe the law should be changed so as to protect other communities from the problems that have been inflicted on the Long Jetty area of my electorate following the establishment there of a methadone clinic in 1987. I praise the previous Labor Government for recognising the need for the establishment of a methadone clinic on the Central Coast. Prior to 1987 methadone clinics were situated in either Sydney or Newcastle only. In areas where methadone clinics were not operating local doctors would dispense methadone through local chemist shops. When the need to establish a methadone clinic on the Central Coast was suggested to the area health board it refused to provide this service through the hospital system. Consequently a private methadone clinic was established. However, private methadone clinics, such as the one operating at Long Jetty, are given what amounts to a lifetime contract to operate. I believe the relevant Act should be amended to enable the Minister responsible to intervene by ordering the closure of a methadone clinic without compensation. In the interests of the local community such a safeguard should be available where clinics are located in or close to residential areas.

I speak from the bitter experience of local residents in the Long Jetty area. Before the clinic was forced on the area by the former Labor Government, Long Jetty was a quiet, suburban coastal retreat. The establishment of the clinic brought immense changes to the life of residents in Long Jetty - changes that the local residents hate but which they are powerless to reverse. That lack of power to right what is manifestly a gross social injustice flows from the way the law relating to the methadone clinics operates. When contracts are drawn up to establish a new methadone clinic, there is no review mechanism - no sunset clause. This has resulted in clinics that were established in the past, when less thought was given to what effect they might have on local communities, being virtually impossible to close down. Local residents can complain until they are blue in the face - the authorities will not budge. I propose that a new system be introduced that would allow local communities to have a say in what goes on in their communities. After all, that is what democracy is all about - the Government listening to the people it represents.

A sunset clause should be inserted into all new contracts for the establishment of methadone clinics. Clinics should be given approval to operate for a period of five years. At the end of that time the views of local people would be taken into account. If the operations of a clinic and its clients caused major disruptions to the local community, it could be relocated elsewhere. My argument is not against methadone programs, or the dedicated doctors and staff who run methadone clinics. I emphasise that
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medical authorities have found little to criticise in the way that the clinic at Long Jetty is administered. When problems have arisen the staff of the clinic have done their best to rectify those problems. They have tried to improve relations with the local community, shopkeepers and police. My concern is not that the operators of the clinic have done any wrong - it is the nature of the beast. There are many problems associated with treating heroin addicts. There is overwhelming consensus in my electorate that Long Jetty is not an ideal location for a methadone clinic, and it must be moved. In 1987 only a handful of patients attended the clinic. It is estimated that now between 200 and 240 addicts attend the Long Jetty methadone clinic each day to have administered this legal drug. This group of addicts and their families, many of whom are battling with huge problems, have placed an enormous strain on the patience and good will of the local community. By May 1989 the howls of protest from residents were so loud that a special team of experts from the Department of Health visited Long Jetty to assess the situation. In their report they stated:

A number of local residents and shop keepers were approached concerning their views on the (methadone) unit. These were essentially negative and reflected concerns over theft, violence, urinating and defecating in public by the clients, and frequent visits to the centre by police.

After speaking to one of the doctors administering the clinic, Dr Orgias, the experts noted:

. . . it quickly became apparent that he shared the same concerns as the locals over the behaviour of some of the program's clients. He cited domestic violence, knife fights and shoplifting as activities he was attempting to stamp out.

Police were also alarmed about the number of crimes involving addicts who attended the methadone clinic and associates of those addicts. Several people were arrested and charged with serious criminal offences. In October 1989 a public meeting about the clinic was held at The Entrance. The honourable member for Peats addressed that meeting and said that the former Labor Government had originally planned to establish the clinic at Gosford in 1985. He said that the funds had been allocated for that purpose. However, the Central Coast Area Health Board voted against the clinic's establishment and the Labor Government buckled at the knees and gave in. Rather than establishing the clinic at Gosford Hospital the Labor Government looked for a softer target. Long Jetty got it. Thanks to the former Labor Government we got it in the neck. The changes that the clinic has brought to the area have been immense. The effects on the local community have been catastrophic. Before the clinic was established there were a few drug addicts living in the area but no more than the number living in most other quiet coastal areas of New South Wales. The clinic acted like a magnet. Addicts came from everywhere, particularly Sydney, once they learnt they could easily obtain methadone at Long Jetty. Long Jetty is not situated on any major transport link. Tuggerah has the nearest railway station. Those addicts who chose to be on the methadone program had no choice but to live near the source of their supply. By May 1989 local welfare agencies were expressing alarm about the number of addicts who had settled in the Long Jetty area. The co-ordinator of The Entrance Neighbourhood Centre, Lindy Wright, wrote:

Most of the people we have seen at the centre have come from Sydney, either referred by doctors or by word of mouth. The latter far outweighs the first. The reason that they are coming here is that there is a 3 to 4 months wait for methadone in Sydney. When they come to the Long Jetty clinic they can get on the program straight away from consultation with the clinic doctor.

The newly arrived addicts swamped the welfare system in the area.

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Lindy Wright further reported:

. . . we are seeing a lot of people who are on the methadone program at Long Jetty. They are coming to the centre for help with food and payment for their methadone . . .

A local doctor associated with the methadone clinic at the time, Dr Bob Bramley,confirmed in April 1989 that large numbers of addicts had moved to the area to be near the clinic. About two years after the clinic opened Dr Bramley wrote to me in the following terms:

You will see that 77 of them live in the Long Jetty-Entrance area . . . Within 5 kilometres there are now 115 patients being treated.

The doctor wrote to me not to complain about the fact that addicts were moving into the area but to plead for compassion for them. He asked me to help pacify local shopkeepers who were opposed to the establishment of the clinic. He said the clinic was "doing a good job of treating many of your constituents for the terrible affliction of drug addiction". There is no doubt that there have been problems with the operation of the clinic at Long Jetty. A string of protests have been received from local residents, shopkeepers, an hotelier, police, Neighbourhood Watch organisers, senior citizens and people employed at the Entrance Neighbourhood Centre. Not that long ago I presented to Parliament a petition signed by about 150 local residents expressing concern about the clinic's location at Long Jetty and seeking its removal. But what has happened in the meantime? Nothing. The clinic continues to operate seven days a week. The local people who oppose the location of the clinic are becoming increasingly desperate because their voices are not being heard. I speak for them today. My purpose in raising this matter is not to indulge in druggie bashing. Indeed, most of my constituents would agree that something has to be done to help people addicted to heroin, which is one of the greatest scourges of modern Australian society. Obviously it is far better that addicts are treated in controlled rehabilitation programs than to be out on the street bashing and robbing people for money to support their habits. A difficulty arises so far as decisions relating to the location of methadone clinics are concerned.

The previous Labor Government made a big mistake when it decided to locate this particular clinic at Long Jetty. I am sure that Labor Party members of this House regret that decision now. The clinic was placed in an area close to houses and a social club for the elderly. The Long Jetty Senior Citizens Club is located just down the road. A hotel is situated just a few doors away. It would not be possible today to locate a new clinic in the same building. The regulations would not permit it. They state that methadone clinics should be located in business, industrial or hospital zones, not in residential areas. Under the new rules covering the location of methadone clinics, which were introduced by the Hon. P. E. J. Collins when he was Minister for Health, it would be impossible to place a new methadone clinic at Long Jetty. Such an application would not be approved under the rules.

The problem confronting my constituents at Long Jetty is that they are stuck with this clinic because as the law stands there is nothing they can do to rid themselves of it. Obviously the law is an ass and it must be changed. How did such a situation come to pass? What was the basis of the decision taken by the previous Labor Government that Long Jetty was the perfect location for a new methadone clinic? The answer is obvious. It was easier for that government to locate the clinic in the heart of a traditional Labor Party seat than have to argue to have the clinic located where everyone knew it should have been located - at Gosford Hospital. Honourable members should not just take my word for it. I have the evidence here with me in black and white from no less an expert than the honourable member for Peats, Tony Doyle.

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In an effort to limit the adverse impact that the addicts have on the local community, police are regularly patrolling the area around the clinic at times when methadone is being handed out. There should be no doubt about the depth of feeling in my electorate against this methadone clinic. I have a thick file of complaints from ordinary people, organisations, and local business people about the impact the clinic has had and is having on the community. Neville Budd, who manages the Long Jetty hotel, has complained that some of his patrons have been approached by patients from the clinic and asked whether they want to buy methadone. Like many others in the area Mr Budd has sought my support for the relocation of the clinic. These problems exist because of the decision of the previous Labor Government to inflict the methadone clinic upon our community. To all those members of the Labor Party who played a part in that decision I say thanks a million. The constituents of The Entrance will never forget; they will not rest until the damage has been undone and the clinic moved to a more suitable location - a location that complies with present regulations - away from residential areas, on an industrial or hospital site.

A methadone clinic is now under construction at Gosford Hospital. It is expected to open before the end of the year. I hope that that new clinic will take some of the pressure off the Long Jetty clinic. Authorities must realise, however, that the addicts who have settled at Long Jetty cannot be forced to move to Gosford. I suspect that most will not move while methadone is freely available at the Long Jetty clinic. Residents of the area will be satisfied with nothing less than the closure of the clinic. It should never have been located there. It is time for it to go. On behalf of the residents of Long Jetty I ask the Parliament to note these genuine concerns and to answer our pleas for help. I ask honourable members to support my private member's bill, which will enable the clinic to be relocated. An injustice has been done and I ask that it be rectified. I commend the bill and ask all honourable members to support it.

Debate adjourned on motion by Mr Phillips.

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