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Further implications
New South Wales and Victoria have been the two Australian states with the largest number of fatalities and drug-related hospitalisations over the 2023-2024 summer festival period. Speculation is now growing as to whether either state will soon alter its stance against pill testing.Both states have an established history of opposition to pill testing which has been restated by their current governments. Immediately following the two recent music festival deaths in Sydney, the New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, stated that pill testing was not a 'silver bullet' that would prevent deaths, while the premier, Chris Minns, indicated there was not enough evidence to justify its introduction at this time. This was in response to requests that the New South Wales government immediately begin a trial of the service.
The Victorian premier Jacinta Allan responded to similar requests by stating, 'We have no plans to change the current settings on that matter.' Pressure on these state governments to change their policies will not end with the end of summer and the music festival period. Both the New South Wales and Victorian governments will face continued demands to introduce pill testing before the start of the next festival season. The New South Wales Greens have introduced a bill into state parliament to license as many as four pill-testing sites, including one in a fixed location.
The Victorian government is also being pushed to act on pill testing. Three crossbench parties have renewed their calls on the Victorian Government to establish pill testing across the state. The Victorian Greens, the Animal Justice Party, and Legalise Cannabis Victoria have a bill before Parliament that would establish pill testing in time for the 2024 summer festival season. As with the Green's bill in New South Wales, the Victorian Pill Testing Pilot for Drug Harm Reduction Bill would establish a mobile pill testing service for major music festivals, as well as a fixed-site service for more detailed analysis year-round. Both sites would be licensed for two years with the potential for a four-year extension following a review. Some critics have anticipated that the two state governments will continue to oppose pill testing; however, their current positions may simply indicate that neither state government wants to appear to be buckling under pressure from another party or from drug testing lobbyists. Each of these new state governments inherited their position on pill testing from the government which proceeded them - Minns from the former Berejiklian Liberal government, and Allan from the former Andrews Labor government. Berejiklian was a firm opponent of pill testing, declaring she had 'closed the door' on it, even in the face of a coroner's recommendation that it be introduced.
Andrews was perhaps even more staunchly opposed, declaring that the policy on pill testing would not change while he was in office. With pill testing having been so vocally opposed by the former premiers of each state, the new governments may want an opportunity to establish themselves before they address this issue.Despite what some commentators have said, each of these new governments has shown a potential to change its position. During last year's election campaign, Chris Minns promised to hold a drugs summit if his party won power in New South Wales. Since the election he has indicated that the summit will be held this year. Pill testing will be one of the items on the summit's agenda.
The current Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has also not expressed the same level of opposition to pill testing as her predecessor. On January 16, 2024, she indicated that she would open debate about pill testing with cabinet ministers and seek expert advice on the harm-minimisation approach. Given the high level of popular support for pill testing
and the unanimous support of the medical and health services community there seems little political risk in either state government changing its current position. However, as opponents of the measure note, there is no guarantee that there will not be further deaths at next year's music festivals even if pill testing regimes are introduced in each state.