Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman has called for the “start of a serious conversation about pill testing” following the deaths of two young people at a music festival in Penrith on the weekend.
The Labor MP spoke out on the issue in Federal Parliament on Monday, just the day before NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that an expert panel tasked with making music festivals safer will not consider the merits of pill testing.
Ms Templeman told Parliament: “We should take the advice of health and justice experts, of parents who’ve lost children, and of the research, and start a serious conversation about pill testing and amnesty bins that give people a chance to dispose of drugs without fear of prosecution.
“Our message should not be based on fear and punishment but on making sure that it’s never too late to make a good decision that could save your life,” she said.
Ms Templeman said the deaths “at this weekend’s Defqon festival at the base of the Blue Mountains highlight that our current approach to drug policy is not enough”.
“As much as we hope that our children and their friends just didn’t take drugs, generation after generation have shown us that they will make decisions that are high risk… We’ve arrived at a point where we need to do something different. We can never stop trying to educate about the dangers of drug use. But if we can’t convince our kids not to take drugs, what we can do is empower them to reduce the risk.”
The Premier established a panel to look at music festival safety yesterday [September 18]. She also walked back her vow to shut down the music festival, Defqon. 1, saying instead that the event “in its current form needs to improve its safety requirements”.
The panel is expected to provide advice within four weeks on what actions festival operators, including Defqon. 1, should take to improve safety at their events, whether new offences or increase penalties are needed for drug dealers, and whether more community drug education programs are required.
The panel is comprised of Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant and Chair of the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority Philip Crawford.
“Festival goers have a right to enjoy these events without fear of harm. Parents and families expect us to do whatever we can to keep their children safe,” said Ms Berejiklian.
The response comes as harm minimisation advocates renewed their calls over the weekend for the government to reconsider the option of testing illicit pills such as ecstasy tablets at festivals to gauge their level of toxicity.
However, Ms Berejiklian confirmed the panel would not be considering the option of pill testing, saying it was “not supported by the NSW government”.
“Pill testing doesn't guarantee the safety of a drug and what might be safe for one person may not be safe for another person.”
