❓ A parliamentary question regarding the Labor Party's alleged commitment to establishing heroin shooting galleries in Perth. The Minister strongly opposes the idea, predicting increased crime and community anger.
AnsweredQoN 65Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Labor Party's commitment to establish shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area if it wins the next State election. Can the minister please advise whether the Labor Party has identified any sites for its proposed heroin shooting galleries? Mr PRINCE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The Labor Party is clearly committed to the establishment of shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area. Where remains a secret. It is the Labor Party’s national policy and it is proceeding with the galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. The Labor Party is trying to copy some of the European cities which have had open drug dealing in parts of their cities for many years and which are now operating heroin shooting galleries. To date, the galleries have been in cities in which there has been an open drug-dealing scene of a significant size. It does not exist to that extent in Perth as a result of a number of active policies by the Police Service and the Government's strategy on drugs. This Administration is the only State Government which has addressed the underlying causes and all of the problems. If a heroin shooting gallery is established in this State, the crime figures will go up. Crime spiralled upwards during the last Labor Administration. All a heroin shooting gallery in this State will do is attract drug dealers and increase the amount of heroin being sold. The result will be that the people who live in the area adjacent to the shooting gallery will be extremely angry. The problem of removing prostitutes from the streets will be nothing compared with the problems that will ensue from establishing a shooting gallery. The Labor Party will go to the election advocating heroin shooting galleries and every government member and I will tell the people what the consequences of that will be. The Labor Party should be warned – it should not do it.
Mr PRINCE replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The Labor Party is clearly committed to the establishment of shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area. Where remains a secret. It is the Labor Party’s national policy and it is proceeding with the galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. The Labor Party is trying to copy some of the European cities which have had open drug dealing in parts of their cities for many years and which are now operating heroin shooting galleries. To date, the galleries have been in cities in which there has been an open drug-dealing scene of a significant size. It does not exist to that extent in Perth as a result of a number of active policies by the Police Service and the Government's strategy on drugs. This Administration is the only State Government which has addressed the underlying causes and all of the problems. If a heroin shooting gallery is established in this State, the crime figures will go up. Crime spiralled upwards during the last Labor Administration. All a heroin shooting gallery in this State will do is attract drug dealers and increase the amount of heroin being sold. The result will be that the people who live in the area adjacent to the shooting gallery will be extremely angry. The problem of removing prostitutes from the streets will be nothing compared with the problems that will ensue from establishing a shooting gallery. The Labor Party will go to the election advocating heroin shooting galleries and every government member and I will tell the people what the consequences of that will be. The Labor Party should be warned – it should not do it.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The Labor Party is clearly committed to the establishment of shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area. Where remains a secret. It is the Labor Party’s national policy and it is proceeding with the galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. The Labor Party is trying to copy some of the European cities which have had open drug dealing in parts of their cities for many years and which are now operating heroin shooting galleries. To date, the galleries have been in cities in which there has been an open drug-dealing scene of a significant size. It does not exist to that extent in Perth as a result of a number of active policies by the Police Service and the Government's strategy on drugs. This Administration is the only State Government which has addressed the underlying causes and all of the problems. If a heroin shooting gallery is established in this State, the crime figures will go up. Crime spiralled upwards during the last Labor Administration. All a heroin shooting gallery in this State will do is attract drug dealers and increase the amount of heroin being sold. The result will be that the people who live in the area adjacent to the shooting gallery will be extremely angry. The problem of removing prostitutes from the streets will be nothing compared with the problems that will ensue from establishing a shooting gallery. The Labor Party will go to the election advocating heroin shooting galleries and every government member and I will tell the people what the consequences of that will be. The Labor Party should be warned – it should not do it.
Mr PRINCE replied: I thank the member for some notice of this question. The Labor Party is clearly committed to the establishment of shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area. Where remains a secret. It is the Labor Party’s national policy and it is proceeding with the galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. The Labor Party is trying to copy some of the European cities which have had open drug dealing in parts of their cities for many years and which are now operating heroin shooting galleries. To date, the galleries have been in cities in which there has been an open drug-dealing scene of a significant size. It does not exist to that extent in Perth as a result of a number of active policies by the Police Service and the Government's strategy on drugs. This Administration is the only State Government which has addressed the underlying causes and all of the problems. If a heroin shooting gallery is established in this State, the crime figures will go up. Crime spiralled upwards during the last Labor Administration. All a heroin shooting gallery in this State will do is attract drug dealers and increase the amount of heroin being sold. The result will be that the people who live in the area adjacent to the shooting gallery will be extremely angry. The problem of removing prostitutes from the streets will be nothing compared with the problems that will ensue from establishing a shooting gallery. The Labor Party will go to the election advocating heroin shooting galleries and every government member and I will tell the people what the consequences of that will be. The Labor Party should be warned – it should not do it.
I thank the member for some notice of this question. The Labor Party is clearly committed to the establishment of shooting galleries in the Perth metropolitan area. Where remains a secret. It is the Labor Party’s national policy and it is proceeding with the galleries in Sydney and Melbourne. The Labor Party is trying to copy some of the European cities which have had open drug dealing in parts of their cities for many years and which are now operating heroin shooting galleries. To date, the galleries have been in cities in which there has been an open drug-dealing scene of a significant size. It does not exist to that extent in Perth as a result of a number of active policies by the Police Service and the Government's strategy on drugs. This Administration is the only State Government which has addressed the underlying causes and all of the problems. If a heroin shooting gallery is established in this State, the crime figures will go up. Crime spiralled upwards during the last Labor Administration. All a heroin shooting gallery in this State will do is attract drug dealers and increase the amount of heroin being sold. The result will be that the people who live in the area adjacent to the shooting gallery will be extremely angry. The problem of removing prostitutes from the streets will be nothing compared with the problems that will ensue from establishing a shooting gallery. The Labor Party will go to the election advocating heroin shooting galleries and every government member and I will tell the people what the consequences of that will be. The Labor Party should be warned – it should not do it.
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