Text of speech by Brendan Smyth, MLA, Shadow Minister for Health and Community Affairs

Good afternoon ladies and gentleman. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

As a sign of the support you have from your local members we have here with us today Senator Kate Lundy, we have Bob McMullan from the House of Reps, Wayne Berry the speaker is here, Karen McDonald from the Labor Party, Vicki Dunne from the Liberal Party, Kerrie Tucker from the Greens and if I have missed anybody I apologise but there is a body of support out there amongst the politicians you have elected to say 1. let's not forget these people who we think of today and 2. let's work together for some solutions to make sure it doesn't happen into the future.

I think Anne was right when she said we all have stories and you all clearly have stories. Your presence here today testifies to that. The story I would tell is of a friend of mine called Kate who breaks down many of the stereotypes of those who would use drugs. She came from what we would call a good family. She had family and friends that would support her. She actually acquired her heroin addiction from medical procedures that left her with the need for pain relief. She, in the end, like so many, died on her own and was found by her son. What Kate said to me through her death was that it is anywhere, anytime and that if we let down our vigilance it will occur again and I think the first lesson for the day is that it does affect us all wherever we are at.

The second thing I would like to say today is that recently the ACT police (and I would like to welcome representatives of the police here today because they are concerned and they want to work to make this situation better as well) undertook 'Operation Anchorage' and caught 233 individuals for burglary and I think most of them were convicted but 97% of them had drug addiction, had drug problems or mental health problems. And we said, 'why is this allowed to go on and what is it that has caused these people to follow that path'. There was a body of evidence there we hadn't had before because all of those people were locally born. So we started a project, and I understand it is to be reported on shortly, that looked at what happened, in the main to young men 25 year old Canberra born and bred. What happened in their life that led them down this path. I think armed with that information we can also make a difference

The third thing is the silos that we live in and again Anne touched on this. That the different areas of care don't see it as their problem – "I can't treat you because you are a drug addict". That is poppy cock. What we have to do is knock down those silos because it is not a police problem, it is not a medical problem, it is not a mental health problem, it is not a drug and alcohol problem, it is our problem and it is only together that we can fix it. We need to work on reforming things like how we treat those with a dual diagnosis so that we can break down the barriers, the silos and work together to make this a better place.

Ladies and Gentleman for the last seven years the ACT led the argument in drug reform. This was the jurisdiction that was putting up the ideas and we were getting knocked for it, for being the drug capital because of those ideas. But I think it is time we renewed that debate, that we started putting up the ideas, that we actually open our minds to things like safe injecting places and heroin trials because further delay will simply cost more lives.

To those of you who are here today I would simply say this - those who have died are not forgotten, your presence here at this monument means they will never be forgotten. I would say to you who remain - you are not alone you have the fellowship of those around you here today but I think the wellbeing and wishes of many in the Canberra community who would like to work with all of us to make things better.

And the final thought is that all that we do, if we do it together, will achieve something and it is only if we do it together with every one involved, with no silos, with no barriers, that we can make a difference and make it quickly.

I wish you all well today. I wish that you do enjoy your remembrances because it is important to remember the good times not the bad things that happen because if we forget them this will continue. By remembering them today hopefully what we do is secure a future for tomorrow.