Melbourne, VIC, 5th June, 2017 – UnitingCare ReGen, the lead alcohol and other drug treatment and education agency of UnitingCare Victoria & Tasmania, today responded to claims made in Friday’s Herald Sun that a change in the Victorian Government’s stated opposition to the establishment of a pilot Medically Supervised Injecting Centre (MSIC) in Richmond, ‘would enrage Christian groups’ ('Services back injecting room', 02/06/17). The claim appears to be based on an Australian Christian Lobby submission to the current inquiry by the Parliament’s Legal and Social Issues Committee into the proposed MSIC pilot. The ACL submission is also referenced in an accompanying opinion piece by Matt Johnston on the politics of the proposal ('When law and order, life and death collide', 02/06/17).
ReGen CEO Laurence Alvis said:
The perception created in this article that there is broad opposition to establishing a pilot MSIC in Richmond is unfounded.