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Vic Libs to shut down injecting centre

An inner Melbourne safe injecting centre would get shut down within a week if a Liberal-Nationals government being elected, it's been revealed.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has spent Wednesday campaigning in Melbourne's southeastern suburbs (AAP)

Melbourne's supervised injecting room would be shut down within a week as part of radical changes introduced by a Liberal-Nationals Victorian government.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy also plans to table harsh new criminal laws to parliament before Christmas, cracking down on bail breaches and boosting community safety, if he wins government this weekend.

Labor established the injecting centre trial in the heroin hot spot of North Richmond, at an existing community health centre next to a school, after a spate of overdose deaths.

But Mr Guy and the coalition remain unmoved by the arguments, telling reporters it was within his power to withdraw state funding for the centre and it was not appropriate to have a heroin and ice injecting centre next to a school, or anywhere.

"We will provide the appropriate support that you'd need, but I want to get people off drugs. I don't want to provide state-sponsored ice injecting rooms so that people can continue to take ice," Mr Guy said.

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Premier Daniel Andrews said the centre could only ever be in one location because of the legislation.

"The single injecting facility in Richmond is saving lives. To do otherwise, means those lives won't be saved, it's very, very simple," Mr Andrews said.

The Liberals also revealed they would shift all of the Victorian government's banking to the community Bendigo Bank, away from Sydney-based Westpac, and establish a trade centre in Jerusalem if elected.

But the Liberals also stooped to launching a political attack website, announced via official press release, called 'Daniel Andrews Sucks', featuring a video clip of the Labor leader wearing a jester hat.

Mr Andrews spent his final Wednesday campaigning in the marginal southeastern suburbs, spruiking his kindergarten plans for three-year-olds, free TAFE courses and cash for dogs.

If Labor is re-elected, Mr Andrews promised to make two early-childhood TAFE courses free and create 8000 university scholarships for prospective kindergarten teachers in a $27 million promise to support a future three-year-old kindergarten program.

He also announced a $150,000 trial for 10 retired greyhounds in public nursing homes as comfort dogs, $1 million on shelters and foster carers for dogs and $2 million for upgraded and expanded community vet clinics, with each eligible for grants of up to $150,000 each.

Victorians go to the polls on Saturday but more than 940,000 people have already voted, including Mr Guy who completed a ballot paper last week.

Mr Andrews and Mr Guy face-off in a couple of debates on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the first at Frankston, one of the state's most marginal seats, in front of 100 undecided voters.

It will be the first time the leaders go head-to-head in the campaign.


3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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