Yarra Council want injection room moved

Jolly has been a long-time advocate for the injection facility, which opened in 2018, but said the burden on North Richmond’s immediate surroundings was too great due to the lack of similar facilities elsewhere in Melbourne. He also said that there were not enough social assistance services for the drug users he brought to the region and frightened the local people.

“I was very involved, literally, in the fight to establish supervised injection facilities. And we were all really excited … when this facility was built.”

The vote rewrote a key plank of the “Advocacy Roadmap”, a document aimed at guiding the council’s lobbying activities ahead of the Richmond state election in November 2026, which Labor wants to win back from Greens MP Gabrielle Di Vietri.

The new motion, backed by the “Yarra for All” majority bloc, calls on the state government to “activate North Richmond”. [Medically Supervised Injecting Room] (MSIR) move to a more suitable location”. It replaced the original statement, which called for permanent funding only for “trauma-informed outreach services” for the management of people affected by the drug that had caused concern in the neighbourhood.

Voting will be held in just two months Age It found that MSIR’s operator, North Richmond Community Health, admitted it “initially failed to adequately address community safety concerns.”

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Chief executive Simone Heald said: Age He was disappointed by the council’s motion on Wednesday.

Heald said he was “genuinely surprised” by the move and revealed he had a “very productive” meeting with Jolly in September in which he “expressed his support for the injection chamber”.

“I don’t remember that being part of our conversation,” he said, referring to the idea of ​​moving the facility.

Heald acknowledged the challenges of the facility’s proximity to schools and homes, but said the location was chosen because the drug market “has been here for so long.”

“The reason he’s here is because of what happened before,” he said. “MSIR was created as a result of the pharmaceutical market.”

He said his team remains committed to the work and recently formed an expert advisory group made up of government services and community members and “continues to strategize on how we improve comfort and safety.”

Green councilors Sophie Wade and Edward Crossland, who voted against the motion, argued it was a “major change” from a decade-old council position that had been “spread out across the community” without consultation.

“People who feel victimized by the status quo, we will hear from them… but those who think MSIR is good have a right to be heard and they should have been here tonight,” Wade said.

Wade filed a motion to withdraw from the vote on Wednesday; The support of three council members is required for the vote to be reconsidered. Crucially, Labour’s sole councilor Sarah McKenzie was not in the chamber for the vote on Tuesday night and arrived shortly afterwards, making her stance on the issue unclear. It is almost certain that McKenzie will be the Labor Party candidate in the upcoming state elections with Di Vietri.

On Wednesday, Di Vietri called the motion a disgrace and “a thinly veiled attempt to shut down our community’s hard-earned and world-leading overdose prevention center.”

He said MSIR was established because of pre-existing drug abuse in the area.

“I knew it; before it existed, I was living 50 yards away and watching deals and drug use on my doorstep every day,” he said. “Deaths resulting from the closure of this service will be the responsibility of the mayor.”

Since opening, MSIR has managed more than 10,000 overdoses without a single death. The state government abandoned plans for a second facility in the CBD last year.

Opposition mental health spokeswoman Emma Kealey said opening the facility next to a primary school meant it was doomed to failure.

“I don’t know anyone except the Prime Minister” [Jacinta] Allan thinks it would be a good idea to have an injection room next to the primary school.”

Mental Health Minister Ingrid Stitt has been approached for comment.

Rachel with Eddie

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