Video Information
On September 26, 2019, the Victorian Department of Health produced a virtual tour of the North Richmond drug injecting centre conducted by Dr Nico Clark, the facility's medical director.
On September 29, 2017 SWI swissinfo.ch televised a brief documentary on injecting rooms in Switzerland explaining why they were established and how they operate.
On November 13, 2019 Samuel Anderson posted 5-minute documentary giving the views of many in the North Richmond community on the establishment of an injecting room in the area. Most opinions were negative.
On February 21, 2017, the ABC's current affairs program 7.30 televised a 6-minute segment on the mounting pressure to establish a supervised injecting centre in Richmond.
On June 6, 2020, 9 News televised a report on opposition to a Victorian government proposal to establish a second injecting facility in the state in Melbourne near the Victoria Market.
On September 27, 2017, Dovetail Queensland released a two-minute segment explaining 'harm minimisation', a major strategy applied in Australia to reduce the impact of drug-taking. This strategy includes injection rooms. The segment refers only to the Kings Cross injecting centre in Australia. (The Richmond centre was not established until June 2018.)
On July 26, 2019, Sky News Australia conducted a discussion around 'harm minimisation' as practised at the North Richmond injecting facility. The three speakers were all opposed to the concept of harm minimisation, seeing it as either 'enabling' or 'legalising' drug taking.
In November 2017, Fairfax Media produced a three-minute segment in which Dr Marianne Jauncey, the Medical Director, conducted a tour showing the operation of the Kings Cross Medically Supervised Injecting Centre. This facility had then been in operation for 16 years, having been established in 2001.
On October 4, 2017, VICE News Tonight televised a segment explaining the operation of an illegal Safe Injection Site in Toronto, Canada, which was set up after the city failed to act on its 2016 decision to set up three safe-injecting centres. The illegal, makeshift facility was established in August 2017. The city's first permanent supervised consumption service was subsequently established on November 8, 2017.
On September 15, 2010, ABC News televised a report on the decision taken by the New South Wales government to make the Kings Cross injection room permanent after a nine-year trial.
On October 12, 2016, Euronews (in English) televised a report on France opening its first supervised injection centre for drug users. The centre was established close to the Gare du Nord in Paris.
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Should drug injecting rooms be established in built-up areas?
- Web links, documents and video clips
On March 30, 2021, The Herald Sun published a comment by former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett titled 'Site of Richmond safe injecting room next to primary school "totally inappropriate".'
Kennett supports supervised injecting centres in principle; however, he considers that the location of the North Richmond facility is a mistake. Kennett was formerly a member of a panel charged with evaluating the facility. He withdrew from the panel prematurely for personal reasons.
The full text of the comment can be accessed at 
On March 25, 2021, ABC News published a report titled 'Richmond West Primary School lockdowns linked to safe injecting room prompts crisis meeting of parents.' The report details a meeting of local Richmond parents calling for the shifting of an injecting centre following incidents that suggest it poses a danger to a nearby school.
The full text can be accessed at
On March 23, 2021, news.com.au published a report titled 'Richmond West Primary parents hold crisis talks as photos reveal drug horror outside school'. The report details the concerns of parents following two recent incidents involving the injection centre located near a local school, which appeared to put students at risk.
The full text can be accessed at
On March 19, 2021, The Herald Sun published a comment by Rita Panahi titled 'We must protect our kids from shocking drug scenes'. The writer argues that the Richmond injecting centre should not be in a residential area near a school. The piece also appears to object to injecting rooms in principle, irrespective of their location.
The full text can be accessed at
On January 21, 2021, The Herald Sun published a comment by Dee Ryall, a risk and governance specialist and former state Liberal MP, titled 'Second safe injecting room in Melbourne is not necessarily the answer'. The opinion piece analyses the inconclusive nature of the data regarding overdoses at the North Richmond facility and the apparent failure of the facility to reduce local crime and improve the local area.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 22, 2020, the Australian Alcohol and Drug Foundation issued a media release titled 'Medically supervised injecting centres save lives' which explained why the Foundation welcomed the Victorian government's decision to extend the trial of the Richmond injection facility for a further three years.
The full text of the article can be accessed at
On June 11, 2020, Crikey posted a comment by Nick Carr, a Melbourne-based GP, author and broadcaster, titled 'The case for safe injecting rooms is clear cut - they save valuable lives' which supports injecting rooms and argues for treating drug users with compassion and understanding.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 10, 2020, the ABC posted a transcript of a segment of its media analysis program Media Watch which accused The Herald Sun of unfairly reporting on the operation of the North Richmond injecting facility. The article maintains that The Herald Sun has inaccurately suggested that the centre was not effectively addressing heroin-related issues in its area.
The report is titled 'Media reporting on the Medically Supervised Injecting Room: To whom are they accountable?'.
The full text can be accessed at
On June 9, 2020, the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres issued a media release titled 'Federation welcomes Medically Supervised Injecting Rooms announcement'. The Federation supported the opening of a second injecting facility as a way of saving lives and as a way of directing people struggling with addiction to health, legal and social support services.
The full text can be found at
In 2019 The Police Association of Victoria released the results of a members' survey of officers working in the vicinity of the Richmond injecting facility which showed their belief that certain types of crime in the area had increased.
A report on the survey can be accessed at
On October 29, 2019, Monash University's Lens published an article titled 'Richmond's safe-injecting room: Controversy overshadows positive community impact' which outlines some of the benefits that the facilities had given Richmond drug users and the local community.
The full text can be accessed at
On October 24, 2019, The Conversation published an opinion piece by Rick Lines, Associate Professor of Criminology and Human Rights, Swansea University, titled 'Safe injection rooms save lives - yet the UK government continues to oppose them'.
The comment presents international evidence in favour of establishing injecting rooms and suggests that they are opposed by some conservative politicians despite the evidence of their value.
The full text can be accessed at
On May 23, 2019, The Conversation published an opinion piece by Inderveer Mahal,
Family physician and Global Journalism Fellow, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto, titled 'Without safe injection sites, more opioid users will die'.
Dr Mahal challenges the decision of the Ontario government to cease funding several injection facilities despite a dramatic recent increase in the number of overdose deaths in the province. She criticises decisions being taken that are not supported by evidence.
The full text of the comment can be accessed at
On May 16, 2019, Herald Sun commentator outlined a series of objections to the Richmond injecting centre in his online blog published under the Herald Sun's masthead. The entry is titled 'BIG SURPRISE: INJECTING ROOM FAIL' and presents several reasons for why Bolt believes the facility has not succeeded in addressing the problem of illicit drug-taking.
The full text can be accessed at
On November 22, 2018, NewsGP, the news organ of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) published a report titled, 'Doctors opposed to plan to scrap injecting room'. The report details the opposition of many doctors to the Victorian Liberal's plan to close the North Richmond injecting centre. The article cites Doctor Cameron Loy, the Chair of RACGP Victoria.
The full text can be accessed at
On May 20, 2018, just prior to the opening of the North Richmond injecting centre, Elle Vee set up a change.org petition opposing the location of the facility. The petition has been updated twice since in response to changing events, most recently on March 22, 2021. As of April 25, 2021, it had attracted 2,677 signatures.
On April 20, 2018, The Australian published a comment by associate editor John Ferguson titled 'Jeff Kennett resignation from safe drug clinics role will kill policy'.
The article argues that the resignation of the former Victorian Liberal premier, Jeff Kennett, from the evaluative panel for the Richmond injecting centre will allow the Victorian Liberal Party to attack the centre. The article supports the centre as a way of saving the lives of drug users.
The full text can be accessed at
On April 15, 2018, The Daily Telegraph published an opinion piece by Peta Credlin, former prime ministerial chief of staff for Tony Abbott and currently a commentator on Sky News. Credlin's comment is titled 'Andrews is only making our drug crisis worse' objects to the North Richmond injecting room for undermining the message that illicit drugs are dangerous, addictive and potentially fatal.
The full text of Credlin's comment can be found at
On June 6, 2017, Junkee published an opinion piece titled 'Australia Is Lagging Behind on Safe Injecting Rooms and It's Killing People' which explained Australia's position in providing assistance for drug users and suggested how it might be improved.
The full text can be accessed at
In 2017, Deakin University's magazine, 'this.', published an article by Dr Matthew Dunn,
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Health, School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University and Professor Peter Miller, Faculty of Health, School of Psychology, Deakin University. The article is titled 'How safe injecting rooms will benefit the community' and argues for the benefits to be derived from establishing a supervised injecting facility in North Richmond.
The full text can be accessed at
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