New South Wales Labor has been accused of trying to minimise the impact of a once-in-a-generation drug reform summit amid last-minute changes and concern from experts over transparency.
The long-promised NSW drug summit begins on Friday in the regional city of Griffith before hearings in Lismore and Sydney.
All but the opening speeches in Griffith were to have been closed to the media, until a late decision was made to allow in reporters in to hear the co-chairs summarise each session.
A list of the 49 groups attending was circulated on Thursday as the Minns government sought to hose down complaints from some stakeholders that they had been excluded – including a Griffith homelessness organisation.
The summit – an election promise – aims to build consensus and social licence for major drug reform. It has been modelled on a week-long forum in 1999 that proved the impetus for Australia’s first supervised injecting room.
Advocates want serious consideration of community drug checking, improved funding of addiction services and changes to policing.
But Sam Kidd, the campaign manager of national drug policy reform organisation Unharm, was concerned Labor wasn’t committed to meaningful change.
“There’s been a pretty deliberate attempt to minimise the impact of this summit,” he said.
“The Sydney hearings are after the parliamentary year ends, the report is not due until February, [and] by the time they respond, it might be 18 months out from an election. Is that the time they are choosing to enact significant law reform?”
Another source said people in the sector were “furious” about how the summit had been organised, saying it raised serious questions about the Sydney hearings.
Griffith city council was not invited and while the mayor, Doug Curran, said he accepted not everyone could attend, he was worried some key stakeholders would not be in the room.
“Our community has been chosen because, like many towns in regional NSW, there are certain drug problems here,” Curran said.
“The [health and housing] ministers are in town and that’s good but it’s actually the next step that’s important. We hope it’s not just a summit to tick the box of having a summit.”
Friday’s forum was expected to hear from people with lived experience, health workers and police.
“There’s been no effort, certainly no concerted effort, to lock anybody out,” the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said on Thursday.
“We do have the experts in the room to provide the best information and also evidence that will challenge government policy. [There will be] things that I won’t necessarily agree with … but we want them around the table to challenge the prevailing system.”
A spokesperson for the health minister, Ryan Park, said the summit would capture the diverse views of more than 450 invitees – three times the attendance of the 1999 drug summit.
