BREAKING: Together, we did it!

Pill testing will now become legal in Victoria.

Pill testing saves lives.

Pill testing is a harm-reduction approach. It means treating drug use as a health issue, not a criminal one.

It means protecting young people when they’re most at risk, instead of punishing them.

Victoria is finally catching up to the rest of the world.

This announcement comes after decades of campaigning from advocacy groups and drug harm experts.

I’m proud to say that the Greens and I have been campaigning on this issue for years.

From 2016, when we first launched our push for pill-testing, to 2019– when our MPs introduced the first ever co-sponsored bill into the Victorian Parliament, we’ve fought for this legislation all the way.

In 2023, we upped the ante, taking the message to music festivals, consulting with harm reduction workers on the ground, and visiting Canberra to meet with experts at a testing facility.

Earlier this year, we teamed up with the Animal Justice Party and Legalise Cannabis Victoria to again introduce a new bill to establish pill testing by next summer.

All the while, Labor was too timid to put the safety of Victorians first, even though the majority of Australians supported pill testing, alongside four Victorian coroners, and over 70 health organisations.

But pressure from the Greens, crossbenchers, and the community, has forced Labor to change their tune.

The Labor Government is now making pill testing permanent in Victoria. And their plans look a lot like the Greens’ Bill, with mobile testing at festivals and a fixed site trial.

I’m also keen to see how a fixed site drug checking unit might be used by heroin users to check that the heroin they’ve bought does not contain more lethal nitazenes or fentanyl, which are beginning to enter the Australian drug market. So there will be more to say on drug harm reduction soon.

For now, to everyone who worked for this issue over the years, your work has paid off.

Pressure works.

In the meantime, thank you.