Tania Maxwell MP says it is vital the next government reinstates investment in the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) sector after Victoria again ranked high in the latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring report.
The Derryn Hinch’ Justice Party Member for Northern Victoria said the state ranked first in capital city consumption of methylamphetamine, heroin and ketamine, while regional Victoria ranked first for ketamine consumption and second for heroin and oxycodone.
The report found rates of methylamphetamine consumption increased in capital cities and regional sites, as the AOD sector restated its call to boost alcohol and drug support services.
Ms Maxwell said the Parliamentary Budget Office on Friday published a DHJP election policy costing to reinstate funding to the AOD sector that was cut in the 2022-23 Victorian budget.
The PBO estimates the reinstatement would cost $46.5 million a year over the next decade.
The costing noted government spending in 2021-22 of $308.6m on ‘Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation’ and $44.5m for ‘Drug Prevention and Control’, totalling $353.1m. In comparison, the 2022-23 budget allocated $313.3m, a cut of $39.8m.
Ms Maxwell said the latest wastewater report was an important indicator of the need for sustained investment in the AOD sector to reduce drug related crime and other harms.
It follows her release earlier this month of a policy costing to establish a specialist drug court in Mildura.
A 2018 AIHW report found that alcohol and drugs are responsible for 6.7 per cent of Australia’s disease burden and 4.5pc of all Australian deaths.
“Reducing substance abuse in the community means less crime, less victims of crime and better wellbeing for individuals and their families,” Ms Maxwell said.
“That’s why adequate funding of these services is important to us.
“There are more than 4000 Victorians waiting for addiction counselling in Victoria and yet we’ve seen nearly $40m cut in the last budget and not a single election commitment from the major parties so far to address the shortfall.
“The major parties need to step up and explain to our communities how they intend to stop the spiral of addiction that is a continuing scourge in regional Victorian communities.”
Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party was also critical of the Labor government scrapping the AOD Workforce Initiative, which supplied $25m to the sector and 100 AOD workers, saying this could mean up to 85,000 fewer standard counselling sessions would be available over the next decade.
The election statement of the peak organisation representing Victoria’s publicly-funded AOD services, VAADA, described the situation as “grave” and called for a significant uplift in the sector, including regional services, to meet the escalating demand for services.
