Just as a point of interest, this Association has arranged for a public forum on 7 March entitled "Aborigines, What Now".Although it is still not completely finalized as yet, we believe Andrew Refshauge, Brad Hazzard, a senior member of ATSIC Regional, and a community representative will be guest speakers on the day.
Being just before the election it will allow for us to put some questions to those various people and find out policies, etc. I think it should be interesting.
I will post when we get everything finalized. Entry will be free (there will be a donation box somewhere if people want) and it will be in the afternoon. More soon.
Don
Trudy and Rod Bray wrote:
Below is an article in today's SMH outlining what is happening already in Caroline Lane. In just the two days since Health Minister Refshauge shut down the needle exchange in Caroline Lane, it is certain that some Aboriginal addicts in the area will pay with their lives as a direct result of his decision. The longer he waits before restoring the exchange, the more will receive a death sentence. This is a very curious thing to do for a man who is also the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. One could say that it is a very racist thing to do since the only needle exchange to be shut down was in an area where many Aboriginal addicts depend on it.
It might be of benefit, in this election year, to point out the Minister's hypocritical position - that as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs for NSW, his action is resulting, in a very real way, in the continuation of the genocide of Indigenous people.
Letters to the editors of various papers (with a copy to the Minister and Premier Carr would be a very good way for us Recoznetters to express our disgust and outrage at the Minister's actions and to urge him to rescind his order.Addresses for various newspapers are posted at the end of the article.
Trudy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Needles dry up and users are sharing
Date: 02/02/99
The Sydney Morning Herald
Feb 2, 1999By GREG BEARUP
In Redfern's Caroline Lane yesterday the effects of the decision by the Minister for Health, Dr Refshauge, to withdraw needles was immediate: the needle supply had dried up and users were sharing.
When the Herald went to the lane at 3pm six people were injecting heroin; one of them didn't have a needle and was waiting to use his friend's "dirty fit".
The man who was about to use the dirty needle was handed a clean one by Ms Anne-Marie Weatherall, from the NSW Users and Aids
Association (NUAA), who had taken the Herald down the lane."I was gunna clean it," the man said of the dirty needle. "I was gunna wash it."
Normally there are boxes of clean needles left in the lane but following the publication of a photograph in a Sunday paper of a boy (who turned out to be 16 rather than 12 or 13, as reported) the minister stopped the service.
Caroline Lane is a desperate place, used by the Aboriginal heroin users living in the semi-derelict section known as "The Block" and others who visit to score and then use.
Those users have now been told that to get needles they have to walk more than a kilometre to the Redfern needle exchange in Pitt Street - a journey that few are making.
Joe, a well-dressed and articulate young Aboriginal man, who was injecting heroin in Caroline Lane yesterday, put the situation simply: "They have taken away the needles but do they really think that will stop kids using heroin? I can't believe how naive they are."
A Caucasian man lifted his head as he tightened the tourniquet around his arm. "I was down here last night and people were scratching around for the cleanest dirty fit they could find."
He plunged the needle into his arm and said: "Hey, if people want to get on they will; they won't wait for clean needles."
A spokesman for Dr Refshauge said yesterday that the Health Department had been at Redfern over the weekend to inform the users of other services.
"We are trying to ensure that the sharing of needles doesn't take place and to inform people of the other options," the spokesman said.
Privately, drug health workers are seething at their minister, who they feel has let them down and initiated a policy shift that will lead to a spread of HIV and hepatitis.
Under the Department of Health policy all users are to be given fresh needles, but those users suspected of being under 16 are to be reported.
"This is the most appallingly stupid political decision that I have seen, a trade-off where people will die of AIDS to buy a few votes," one health worker said.
The health workers spoken to by the Herald said they had been given a directive that they were not to speak to the media about drug issues in the lead-up to the State election.
Ms Weatherall, who had worked at the Redfern needle exchange and now works for NUAA, said: "The thing is that distributing needles to users is a bit like fishing; you have to go where the fish are, they won't come to you."
Dr Raymond Seidler, a Kings Cross doctor who has worked with drug users for many years, said NSW was "operating in a policy vacuum" when it came to drugs.
He said that while the Government continued to ignore the recommendations of Justice James Wood's royal commission and refused to allow safe injecting rooms, the situation would continue.
"I think Dr Refshauge should get out of his government car and walk the streets a bit more," Dr Seidler said. "There have always been young kids using heroin but that doesn't mean that you turn around and punch the victim again."
Injecting boy, 16, to be offered counselling
The 16-year-old boy photographed injecting heroin in Caroline Lane, Redfern, has been found by the Department of Community Services but had not been interviewed by welfare workers late yesterday.
A spokesman for the Minister for Community Services, Mrs Lo Po', said two departmental officers visited the boy's Mt Druitt home yesterday and spoke to his mother. The boy was not at home. The DOCS officers plan to visit the home again and offer counselling services.
Police have confirmed the boy is 16 and not 12 or 13 as suggested, which means DOCS cannot force the boy into care or treatment services.
"Because of his age, there is a limit to what we can do," the spokesman for Mrs Lo Po' said.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Remember:
--Date the letter
--Include your name, home address and phone number
The Australian (Nat) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Sydney Morning Herald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Age <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Daily Telegraph <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Herald Sun (Vic) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Courier-Mail (Qld) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Sunday Times (WA) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Advertiser (SA) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Mercury (TAS) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Send a copy of your letter to:
The Hon. Dr Andrew Refshauge MP
Deputy Premier, Minister for Health
and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Member for Marrickville
20 Station Street
Marrickville 2204Ph. 9558 9000
Fax. 9558 3653
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]^^^^^^^^^
The Hon. Robert John Carr MP
Premier, Minister for the Arts and
Minister for Ethnic Affairs
Member for Maroubra
Suite 501, Level 5
806 Anzac Parade
Maroubra 2035Ph. 9349 6440
Fax. 9349 4594
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
- [Fwd: [recoznet2] Closure discriminatory] Trudy and Rod Bray
