Bill Mason, Brisbane
"The decision by Lord Mayor Tim Quinn to reverse previous ALP council policy of supporting safe injecting rooms and heroin trials in Brisbane is a major setback to a reasonable drugs policy in this city", Coral Wynter, Socialist Alliance candidate for Central ward in the March 27 Brisbane City Council elections, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly.
"Drugs are basically a health, not a criminal, issue", Wynter argued. "For the health and wellbeing of drug users, as a blow against the drug crime-lords, and for the social welfare of the community, the council should support the implementation of safe injecting rooms and heroin trials in Brisbane, and in Australia generally."
Wynter expressed disappointment that David Hinchliffe, the Labor councillor for Central ward, had agreed to accept the mayor's decision. "Brisbane council should be a progressive force for change in Australia, not dragging its feet on social and environmental policy", she said.
Wynter also called for all Brisbane council buses to be air-conditioned by next summer. The ALP council has only promised to do this by 2006. "Brisbane residents should never have to put up with the steamy so-called 'butter-box' buses in the heat like they had to this year", she said. Wynter called for greater frequency of bus services and cheaper ticket prices.
In answer to Brisbane's recycling scandal, in which allegations were made that recycled garbage was dumped in with ordinary rubbish, Wynter argued that "rubbish collection should be placed back in council hands, with full union involvement".
Other issues raised by the Socialist Alliance include public housing and Brisbane's urban environment. Wynter called for "affordable housing for the homeless and low-income people". She added that building public housing will create many new jobs.
Wynter also argued for the protection of open space and defence of the heritage values of Brisbane suburbs. She argued that the "corporate polluters should be forced to pay for the costs of any environmental damage they cause".
"We need to make Brisbane a city for the millions, not the millionaires!", Wynter concluded.
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, March 17, 2004.
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