Pubdate: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 Source: Canberra Times (Australia) Copyright: 1999 Canberra Times Contact: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/ Author: Liz Armitage and Australian Associated Press DRUG TRIAL: CARNELL SNUBS PM ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell has rejected a call from Prime Minister John Howard to halt plans to set up a heroin injecting room. Labor Governments in NSW and Victoria have also rebuffed Mr Howard. Mrs Carnell said last night, ' At this stage I can't see anything new in the concerns of the Narcotics Control Board and unless somebody can show us something that we haven't addressed in our own legal opinions then we will continue.' She also rejected the notion that heroin injecting rooms could damage Australia's image as host of the Olympics Games next year. ' I think it gives an image of a compassionate country that really cares about drug abuse. It doesn't condone it,' she said. ' There's nothing cool about this . . . We care enough to do something about it.' Mr Howard has seized on a letter from the UN International Narcotics Control Board to call for State and Territory Governments to hold off on their proposed injecting-room trials until the Commonwealth can consider the implications. The letter said injecting rooms could breach international treaty obligations and send the wrong message that Australia was a place where illicit drugs could be abused with impunity. Mrs Carnell said the board took a ' very narrow' and a ' reasonably one-sided' view of the issue. 'I am writing to John [Howard] to say I am more than comfortable to be part of a meeting to discuss the issues raised in the International Narcotics Control Board letter,' she said. ' We have legal advice to indicate that the approach we are taking is appropriate. So I think what we should do is sit around a table and sort out the issues.' Mrs Carnell said she did not believe the Howard Government would intervene in ACT plans, and it did not have the numbers in the Senate to do so without support from the Democrats. Independent Paul Osborne said this latest development justified his stance in opposing the injecting room. ' They rushed through the legislation when there were clear problems with our international treaty obligations,' Mr Osborne said. ' It's a week too late.' The Assembly approved a two-year injecting-room trial last week. Mr Osborne said he was sure this information would have affected Labor's decision to support the legislation. Labor Leader Jon Stanhope said he might have agreed to adjourn the debate if he had the information before him a week ago. The Federal Government could override the state and territory laws with legislation under its external affairs powers. It could also pressure the states to back down by threatening to withhold funding support for key projects. But Labor and the Australian Democrats made it clear yesterday they would not support any legislation in the Senate to stop the heroin trials. Opposition Leader Kim Beazley said it would be wrong for Mr Howard to block the trials. ' Legal advice to me is that our international obligations are not a barrier to tackling the heroin problem, and that the plans for safe injecting rooms pose no threat to our obligations under international convention,' Mr Beazley said. Democrats Leader Meg Lees said any move to block the trials would be dangerously short-sighted. ' Safe injecting rooms are about keeping young people alive and giving them a second chance,' Senator Lees said. Victorian Health Minister John Thwaites said his government remained committed to the plan. And NSW Special Minister of State John Della Bosca said international bodies should not dictate Australian policies. Mr Howard said later there were good arguments on both sides of the injecting room debate but a prime minister could not sit on the fence on the issue. Some people argued that injecting rooms could save lives, he said. ' Others argue that you give a new dimension of sanction to an activity if you go down the path of safe injecting rooms,' he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk