by CAA | Nov 13, 2023 | Illicit Drugs, Library
15th November 2023
Having read the account of retiring Liberal member Matt Bach’s last speech, as reported in the Age, it is evident that people in authority are ignorant of the Drug Scene and that we are not prepared for the drug tsunami of epic proportions headed our way.
The most sensible comment attributed was that Drugs should be kept away from children, but children are not idiots, and they will always find out if their parents or associates are using drugs.
All children aspire to adulthood and consequently see drugs as an adult activity and, therefore, something to aspire to.
Equally, children whose parents use drugs are being desensitised to the drug scene and more likely to imbibe at the earliest opportunity.
Most of the pundits spruiking legalisation to decriminalise illicit drugs come from a cloistered affluent existence (and those pretending to be) far removed from the everyday reality of the pain and degradation caused by the Drug scene.
Legalising illicit drugs would be a major social error with astronomically bad consequences – if you think the Drug issue is bad now, see what other jurisdictions have experienced taking the legalisation path.
And don’t be fooled by ‘It’s only grass (marijuana) that we want legalised for personal use’. This is but the second step on the legislative path; the first was the Medically Supervised Injecting Room(MSIR) facility.
The drug problem we have in Victoria, replicated around the world, is fundamentally caused by decisions being made by people who are wilfully blind to reality and too insulated from the effects of illicit drug use to offer a meaningful solution.
Before reading on, it is important to view at least one of these videos to give perspective from jurisdictions that have legalised drugs.
A window to our future.
These jurisdictions started with the MSIR approach and then Legalising Marijuana, and now look at what they are dealing with.
https://youtu.be/Qwcp2mcOH0Y or https://youtu.be/_RaWzJUeT0o
Dealing first with the perception –what drug apologists would have you believe.
- Illicit Drugs are harmless –
- A person using drugs socially hurts nobody.
- Why can’t adults decide what they want to use?
- Putting drug users in jail only exacerbates the problem.
- Most people who use drugs are not dependent on them.
- Drug users with Mental health issues are worsened in the criminal justice system.
- The legalisation is Evidence-Based.
This apologist propaganda is usually peddled by people from a professional background living in the bubble of apartments earning over $ 150k P/A, aged mid 20’s to 40’s, and who use drugs ‘Socially’.
They are also in denial of any risk of addiction.
The reality of drugs is poles away.
- Drug addicts are consummate liars.
- Rarely will an addict confront their addiction, with most in denial.
- Their personal hygiene is atrocious.
- Every dealer’s role is to increase their customers’ addiction and their own profit to ensure their own drug supply first.
- Fentanyl, a super addictive drug, is used to spike drugs to increase the addiction of users and dealers’ profits.
- Drug users generally only associate with like-minded people.
- By the time they have lost their job (somebody else’s fault) they are entrenched in the criminal sphere.
- They are as addicted to the lifestyle as much as the drugs – no cares or responsibilities.
- No drug addict can be rehabilitated unless they want to be, but if it garners them favour will readily claim they are willing to rehabilitate.
- Users’ behaviour is unpredictable and can be dangerous. Severe violence is just under the surface and within the industry, usually hidden.
- Most crime, particularly violent crime, has its genesis in the drug scene.
- Mental Health issues are generally caused and aggravated by drug use, reducing the effectiveness of treatment.
- Drug users are rarely if ever, jailed for just using an illicit substance.
- Criminals, including Outlaw Bikies, are the beneficiaries of huge amounts of cash through their drug enterprises, established by violence and maintained by intimidation.
- ‘Evidence-based’, used in this context to give some authority to claims, is nonsense. Everything that supports legalisation is claimed to be ‘Evidence-Based’ until the evidence no longer suits, and then it must be ignored.
This poses the question of what to do.
Should the State adopt a Health approach, as occurred in the attached examples, or should it be a Law and Order, Police approach?
The answer is very clear to those who view the issue through clear eyes.
Both is the answer.
It is not an either-or proposition, as that inevitably ends with catastrophic failure.
Policy for Health and the Law and Order must be driven by an Illicit Drug management panel with appropriate authority, skills, and resources to tackle the problem holistically.
In an environment of fiscal challenges, this is one area that cannot be ignored, as effective management of the issue will reduce the costs to the community by reducing crime, welfare costs and health expenses and improving the lot of the addicts.
The current approach is akin to using a ‘band-aid’ to stem the flow of blood from a serious wound.
The CAA has previously published a clear blueprint for a better way to reduce the use of illicit drugs while dealing with the health issues of addicts.
See https://caainc.org.au/drugs-and-alcohol-abuse-a-management-solution/
by CAA | Nov 12, 2023 | Library, Politics, Victoria Police Issues
There can be no argument that Victoria is a standout State in Australia for all the wrong reasons, but why?
In trying to identify why things in this State have deteriorated so dramatically in recent years, it is notable that the Separation of Powers concept has all but disappeared from public discourse.
The CAA is strongly inclined to the view that this State’s decline, with no sign of abatement, all stems from a failure of the principle of the Separation of Powers.
That was clearly and intensely evident during the COVID pandemic, with the Police response seemingly dictated by the Government.
What has evolved is a massive block of Labor’s apparatchiks, achieved through ideological nepotism, throughout the public service and all Government authorities.
It would seem appointments are made not on the ability of the individuals but on their ideological bent. Structured in a way, they are beholding to the greater good, the ideology they all share, not the State citizens they are responsible for serving.
This has allowed the evolution of the ideological mass that has achieved the critical level of avoiding independent thought, the mass that has lost its independence of thought and rolls on engulfing any who get in its way.
Shades of the mythical ‘Blob’.
The power of this mass is frightening, deliberately caused by the Premier and those around him seeking ultimate power and control.
What the architects of this mass have underestimated is that the mass appears to have developed its own ability to grow and engorge the designers who are losing control, hence the more outrageous machinations of parts of the Legal system.
Initially, an attractive proposition for any Government putting people in key positions that have compatible ideological values, rather than competency for their function, which means that every decision is made through an ideological prism rather than a pragmatic reality that good governance requires.
The worst possible thing that can happen to any society is the removal of the safeguards that are the cornerstones of democracy.
The Separation of Powers is not a concept that is front of mind to many. However, its importance cannot be overstated.
Public officers are required to implement the Policies of the Government of the day, but that should not diminish their obligations granted under the various legislative Separation of Powers, bestowed on them to give critical and independent advice, particularly to Government Ministers.
Police are a critical example. A sworn police Officer cannot be directed to charge somebody with an offence if they do not believe there is a reasonable likelihood that a Court will convict. Equally, a Court must determine its findings in criminal matters based on the evaluation of the veracity of the evidence, not political ideology.
This concept is repeated throughout the Legal system, and the failsafe, the Separation of Powers, must be protected.
There are very strong indications that the ideological mass has permeated the legal system and, in particular, the senior people appointed to critical decision-making positions.
We have seen many instances where serious charges have been dropped without explanation and where what appear to be obvious serious criminal offences have not been prosecuted, again without explanation. The community are not privy to the reasons behind this turn of events and are entitled to know.
Justice must not only be done but be seen to be done.
This begs the question as to why the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerry Judd, is unwilling to keep the public, and, perhaps, more importantly, victims informed.
No better example of the failures was the decisions made by high-level bureaucrats in relation to the non-prosecution of the main alleged architects of the Gobbo fiasco.
An example of where the Separation of Powers, political and State administration, may well have collided, and because of the severe lack of transparency, the public does not know why these decisions have been made.
They may well be quite proper in the exercising of the authority of the bureaucrat but morally reprehensible in practice, allowing those who are of the ideological mindset of the government to avoid proper scrutiny and accountability.
The CAA implores all politicians for a bi-partisan approach to reviewing the application of the Separation of Powers to be undertaken.
It must surely be attractive to all politicians to have the bureaucrats being held to account for their administration rather than the politicians who can focus on Policy.
We are not opposed to amendments to Ministerial Accountability rules to achieve joint responsibility for the functions of the administration from the relevant Minister to the head of the Department with the ability for sanctions to be applied for failures.
Furthermore, it does not serve us well that Departmental heads can hide behind their Ministers, or the lines are so blurred as to the Separation of Powers – the loss of checks and balances will lead to more problems, and, inevitably, corruption.
To be clear, the dilution of the Separation of Powers for Victoria Police was created with the Police Act of 2013. This legislation was introduced by the then minority-conservative government.
There is little doubt that the unintended consequences, as they have manifested, were unlikely to have been anticipated.
A by-partisan examination and review of the Police Act is also essential to remove anomalies that currently exist.
by CAA | Oct 9, 2023 | Library, Victoria Police Issues
It is not the number of Police that makes a difference, but how you use them; that is the key.
Victoria Police are allegedly understaffed, which means that radical and surgical work must be undertaken to maintain Law and Order, something the average citizen sees slipping away.
The most common gripe from Police members is the role that they have been forced to play in the Domestic conflict situation. Taking multiple crews off the road for periods often well past the end of their shifts and into overtime.
The priority of Domestic disturbances impact causes every other function to be adversely impacted, and functions assessed on the lower end of the scale of importance can wait many hours for Police to attend, if at all.
Often forgotten in the prioritising regime is people do not contact the Police for no good reason. Whatever the incident, it is important to them. Although administrative assessments of importance occur, the victim has no such luxury.
The biggest casualty is the inability of the Police to provide a highly visible Police presence, reducing crime and anti-social behaviour.
Backed by a Royal Commission, the role of the police in domestic incidents has gone well past their primary function of maintaining the Peace and enforcing the law, to become glorified statistic accumulators, marriage guidance experts, conflict resolution councillors and welfare managers.
Sometimes, even Royal Commissions get it very wrong, as in this case. The Commission’s terms of reference would possibly be where the error lays as the consequences of their recommendations on the broader question of the role of the broad function of Police were unlikely to have been examined and, therefore, not properly considered.
That anomaly must be adjusted.
Unintended consequences of the Commission findings could be the major driver in Police leaving the service and or suffering stress-related illness through work overload.
If not the major driver of police dissatisfaction, it is a significant contributor.
From a policing perspective, attending a Domestic that takes up a high proportion of their daily duties, day in and day out, is something they did not sign on for.
As part of their job, it is their responsibility to prevent any breach of peace and prosecute offenders; they accept that. However, they are not qualified, nor should they be expected to handle the matter beyond that. Their expertise lies elsewhere.
There is a plethora of highly paid public servants in a number of departments supported by a large ‘Domestic industry’ of consultants and clinicians that has been built up around this issue, but their service is restricted to office hours and office environments inconsistent with the realities of parties they are working with, that falls to the Police.
Highly paid Lawyers also feed off the Domestic carcase, but they all have something in common with the confluence of all the ‘Domestic industry’ functions. They only operate by referral and appointments and are rarely, if ever, available to help with intervention while the situation is active.
If half the experts who derive an income from this industry were required to provide a 24-hour response capacity of sufficient numbers to deal with the fallout of half the reported Domestic disturbances in any given shift the impact would be extremely positive, firstly for the warring parties and additionally on the capacity of VicPol to perform its roader function.
There would be no expectation that the Domestic response units be exposed to danger as the scene must first be controlled by the Police, but the early intervention of a response team will achieve better outcomes for the parties to the dispute.
Critically, where children are involved, the response teams can remove them, temporarily out of harm’s way, changing the focus on the warring parties and enabling early effective intervention.
Professional consultations at a sterile office miss a critical component from the equation only achieved by visiting the scene, providing context.
The bonus to all Victorians is to free up Police to perform their broader function.
In this current fiscally stretched environment that the State is facing, it might be very clever to make sure that police are relieved from Domestic situations as soon as possible by the ‘Domestic industry’ players.
As a bonus, this might just see a reduction in the exits from Policing, and Police dealing with the broader Policing function rather than predominantly only one.
A reduction in crime and public disorder would be a just reward applauded by the community.
At no additional cost to the public purse; just a realigning the deck chairs.
by CAA | Sep 18, 2023 | Illicit Drugs, Library, Victoria Police Issues
The current strategies being developed, and some implemented to deal with two of the social blights of our society, Drug and alcohol abuse, have and continue to fail, causing substantial disquiet, and a danger to the rest of the law-abiding citizenry.
On the one hand, we send people, of yet-to-be-determined capabilities and skills, onto the streets to recover drunks and remove them to somewhere safe to recover (Drunk Tanks) and on the other, we facilitate drug addiction at safe injecting rooms (MSIR) accounting for a comparatively very small number of addicts, but the majority are just left on the streets to rot where they fall. A classic, ‘being seen to be doing something’.
Perhaps misguided compassion at best or an underlying strategy to minimise an adverse impact on the illegal drug trade, we do not know, but something is terribly wrong with the current approach.
High on the list of ‘wrongs’ is picking up drunks.
Whoever these people are performing these tasks, they will be at high risk of personal harm or high risk of litigation if somebody they are dealing with is harmed. Before the project sees the light of day, ‘Work Cover’ may have something to say about risks to their responsibility.
While it may sound benign in theory, the reality is that a large percentage of the ‘Drunks’ are not only suffering from alcohol excesses as they did 40 years ago, but today’s drunks are more likely to have achieved their state with a cocktail of drugs and alcohol – the ultimate party pack.
This cocktail approach increases the likelihood of belligerence, and the risk of outsourcing this Drunk recovery mechanism, is absolutely fraught with danger.
The Drunk Tank concept is, at best unnecessary and, at worst, placating to a small number of vocal groups that are blind to reality (focusing on the individual) rather than focusing on the overall impact on society.
It is very easy to take one aspect, in the case of drunkenness, the risk to the drunk, and ignore the other aspects of this behaviour.
If we are only talking about Drunks that are comatose and a response from them cannot be elicited, then it is a medical issue and a role for an Ambulance. If they are responsive, then the traditional four hours in a Police cell is perfectly adequate. Albeit that the provision of support services immediately when they sober up would be an enlightened improvement.
The other and most important aspect of managing people who are affected by alcohol is the common propensity for them to become belligerent and often very hostile to either people in authority first and foremost, or anybody in the vicinity.
The greatest risk of this behaviour manifesting is in the domestic situation and is surprisingly common. Drunkenness and drugs are a huge problem, not restricted to the public space.
The so-called safe injecting room (MSIR) is a political stunt and is presented as a solution; however, the facility only claims, on disturbingly questionable data, that they believe they have saved 63 lives.
When you add those alleged saved lives to the irrefutable statistics, there has to be a substantial question mark over this spurious claim. Because of the nature of the question, there can never be a definitive answer- so at best, they think/claim they may have saved 63 lives.
However, the real question is, does the injecting facility, the MSIR, actually reduce harm or elevate it?
The statistics from the Coroners Court, which are empirical, conclusively show that since the introduction of the MSIR in 2018, there has been no appreciable reduction in drug overdose deaths. Moreover, the trajectory of the increase in deaths, apart from the hiatus caused by COVID, has not altered but has accelerated.
by CAA | Sep 14, 2023 | Library, Privacy, Road Safety, Victoria Police Issues
Autonomous vehicles and connected vehicles are on the horizon. That technology will have the capacity to take control of vehicles away from drivers. Currently in the advanced stage of trials, which seem rather benign; nevertheless, the impact of this technology will be profound.
Touted as a Road safety initiative, the cost is going to be horrendous and will end up being a cost-benefit tragedy. The G-Tag will be a fraction of the cost and a motorist may only need to spend less than $150 to upgrade their current vehicle as opposed to many thousands for autonomous upgrades, if they are at all possible, forcing people to upgrade their vehicles. Their current vehicle will be valued based on recoverable scrap value.
As annoying as that might be, the bigger problem is that an initiative that transmits or receives data creates a risk of being compromised and used for illicit purposes.
As anticipated, the proposal of a G-Tag https://caainc.org.au/the-g-tag-that-can-save-lives/ has faced a mixed reaction. Although supported by most, several people have expressed unease about the privacy aspect of the proposal, ironically a view we share.
We are cognisant that the development of this initiative will take some work, not only the development of the program’s infrastructure but also the management of the Privacy issue.
The key to privacy issues is to restrict the use of data to strictly defined purposes.
The G-Tag takes on a new priority of late, given the alleged staffing issues of Victoria Police. Using Police resources more efficiently becomes a very high priority.
Technology can reduce risks to Police as well as increase efficiency.
People being better informed will see the advantages of a properly managed G-Tag system far outweigh the risks.
To bring perspective to the privacy issue, we must look back to 1981 when Melbourne hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the first international meeting of this type in Australia.
Initially, over twenty (20) CCTV cameras were installed and monitored by the Police; terrorism was a very real threat at that time.
After the event, and based on the issue of privacy, all but five (5) cameras were removed, and the control of the cameras was moved from the Police to Melbourne City Council to appease objections.
Currently, there are well over twelve (12) thousand in the City of Melbourne, and that is not counting cameras privately commercially operated. These cameras generally operate with no accountability for what is done with the data collected. Is this a matter of ignorance or something else entirely?
https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surveilled-cities/
As with CCTV Cameras, the operation of the G-Tag has no adverse effect on privacy per se; the raw data is benign, the issue is how the data accumulated is used.
The G-Tag does not take pictures but is designed to locate and monitor target vehicles. Showing their location on maps gives the direction of travel and previous travel for a predetermined period. Police would have the capacity to shut the vehicle down if it posed a threat to the community.
Logically, stolen vehicles could be located when they were reported, increasing the chances of recovering the vehicle immediately and perhaps catching the perpetrator.
Using this system to protect the community from random attacks using vehicles could be minimised.
The very recent murder of criminal heavyweight Gavin ‘Capable’ Preston as he sat having breakfast involved no less than three cars used by the assailants and possibly more. At least two of them were reported to Police prior to the hit.
A G-Tag system operating on a relevant algorithm could have identified a pattern, of stolen car locations and given police a heads-up, something was happening.
Additionally, the perpetrators would have an uncomfortable shock returning to their planned getaway car to find it is immobilised.
We should be very concerned over this killing as the chances of a criminal War is very real, it was only good luck that an innocent patron of the café was not killed or maimed.
To protect privacy, every vehicle that is tagged or prompts a response, irrespective of the nature of the vehicle’s behaviour, must be recorded with the justification included for any future reference.
The use of cameras and other monitoring tools has become widespread, albeit with minimal impact on privacy. It is essential to establish strict regulations around data management to mitigate any negative consequences and promote transparency. This will instil trust among the public that the system is acting in its best interest, will not cause harm, and is accountable for its actions.
The real harm of these technologies is not the action of collecting data so much, but how that data is used and how it is stored and retrieved. Essentially, encryption of the data will protect it from Hackers and misuse or other unauthorised access for nefarious reasons.
Cameras have come a long way and are a part of life. https://www.theage.com.au/national/every-step-you-take-20050726-ge0kta.html
But cameras are not the only intrusion that we have accepted.
Anybody who,
- Owns a computer.
- Shops at a Supermarket.
- A car
- Owns, leases or hires.
- Uses freeways, tollways or major highways.
- Parks in a major shopping mall.
- Uses a commercial car park.
- Insures or registers a car.
- Uses a card, either loyalty, credit, or other card functions.
- Has a bank account.
- Uses medical services.
- Has Private Health Insurance
- Has Medicare
- Any social service interaction.
- Employment
- Union Membership.
- Payee Taxation
- Has a passport
- Travels on public transport
- Any interaction with the Tax Office
- Interacts with Local Governments
- Uses services utilities.
- Attends any educational institutions.
- Plays sport.
- Belongs to any social or sporting club.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it shows that just living in a modern society comes with some privacy baggage.
What is important to realise is that, by and large, most of the data collected is benign, and it is largely unregulated, but the collection of this data is not the issue; it is the use of the data that is where things can come undone.
In the design and development of the G-Tag system, as much care must be applied to protecting privacy as goes into designing the operations.
The G-Tag is capable of monitoring any vehicle on our roads, and that is what causes some angst, but your individual privacy is assured by the following safeguards.
- There are over five million vehicles in Victoria, so the best system could only track targeted vehicles, so the average motorist has nothing to fear.
- Vehicle tracking must have an expiry date, and the tracking justification must be retained securely.
- The unauthorised release of data collected by the system needs to be a criminal offence.
- A vehicle driver, either a missing person or an overdue traveller, would, in many cases, use the G-Tag system. Police can safely intercept them to check their welfare. It would be up to the driver whether their details are passed to those who made the original report. This will avoid obvious misuse of the system.
- Only sworn Police can operate the system or access data. (Police are the most accountable and suitable for the task).
- All data must be encrypted to avoid hacking.
- An independent Board including Police executives, Government representatives and an equal number of non-aligned members of the public to provide a monitoring and evaluation function.
If, however, you own or drive a car that is ten years old or younger, the chances are that you are already being monitored by the manufacturer, and the Limp Home Mode function or the capacity to shut a vehicle down already exists in vast numbers of the Victorian fleet.
The question posed is, would you rather be covered by a transparent authorised function in Victoria or the unregulated actions of overseas manufacturers and perhaps dealerships?
Today, most transport fleet operators, hire car firms, and many Government departments and authorities install tracking devices in their vehicles, often unbeknown to the driver.
Although, that data is managed in Australia, how do you feel about using a car that transmits unregulated data to another country? Probably not an issue with friendly countries, but what of the countries that are not?
It raises concerns for national security that a foreign power could potentially track and shut down large portions of the vehicle fleet or individually targeted vehicles in the country as an act of aggression or terrorism.
With all the risks we are exposed to, the G-Tag proposal is somewhat innocuous.
by CAA | Aug 25, 2023 | Illicit Drugs, Library
Having exposed the flaws in the current approach to Drugs and public intoxication https://caainc.org.au/how-could-we-be-so-wrong/, the CAA has applied its depth of experience to develop workable and practical solutions.
The proposed solutions aim to strike a pragmatic balance between compassion for those entrapped by addiction to drugs or alcohol and those who lack the moral fortitude to control their addiction and the danger to themselves and the whole community.
As a society, our social obligation transcends the current narrow obligations to addicts and users. Current strategies substantially favour addicts, and that must be adjusted.
The focus in managing the drug and alcohol addiction problems must balance the community’s rights against the need to look after addicts, either addicted to drugs, alcohol or both.
Central to achieving this is transparent reporting to build integrity and the confidence of the community.
The Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR)
The highest profile resource, seen by many as compassionate and caring, is the antithesis of what caring should be about. The MSIR provides services that promote and further the abuse of illicit drugs or addiction, not manage or reduce dependence. Additionally, the MSIR creates a substantial risk to other citizens by its location and function.
The MSIR is underperforming for drug addicts, has an adverse impact on the local community and must be closed or repurposed.
Staff from the room collect huge quantities of used needles in the immediate surroundings and then claim needles are a reducing problem. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/north-richmond-community-health-new-mums-request-transfer-away-from-injecting-room/news-story/
This tells another story. The MSIR is not being used by a large percentage of the addicts/users frequenting the area. Therefore, its purpose is questionable. The community is instead exposed to needle use and all the negative behaviours associated with drugs.
The impact on community amenity and the long-term impact on children growing up in a locality where drug abuse is normalised is unacceptable, particularly in a Housing Commission Estate next door to a Primary School and as part of a Community Health Centre complex.
Unfortunately, the Government has just announced the location of the new Drunk Tank, near a Primary School and in the middle of another housing precinct.
See https://youtu.be/_RaWzJUeT0o
The Canada is Dying Documentary is essential viewing to understand appropriate responses to the issue.
The MSIR is a drug facilitator, and its function promote drug use (claiming the use of drugs in the facility is safe) and has created a hub for dealers to ply their trade, increasing the drug scourge, not reducing it. It is the equivalent of the Chadstone in our world, attracting customers.
Ethics of the MSIR
Primum non-nocere is the Latin phrase that means “first, do no harm.” This is a commonly taught principle in healthcare, the Hippocratic Oath.
We fail to see how medical professionals, at any level, can assist/facilitate/supervise addicts in the ingestion of illicit drugs, knowing the harm their actions inflict on the addict is contrary to the ethics of the medical profession.
The size of the problem
The City of Yarra says it collects 90,000 improperly disposed of used syringes a year, excluding those disposed of in local sharps containers and those collected twice a day by MSIR staff near the MSIR. The MSIR is feeding the growth of the problem, not reducing it, which surely must be its primary aim.
They didn’t check the roof.
MSIR, an alternative
The current MSIR must be closed as a priority, and alternate facilities established to manage and look after addicts.
Drunk Tanks could be integrated with the Drug rooms and serve a dual purpose in caring for people under the influence of either substance.
The Proposal
A person under the influence of drugs or alcohol is moved to a facility, a Medically Supervised Recovery Centre (MSRC), for assessment by the authority of an Interim Health Order.
A doctor then determines an immediate management plan, and any health issues addressed. The Health Order is to remain in effect until a medical practitioner is satisfied that the person no longer poses a threat to themselves or others and has regained cognitive acuity.
Essentially, before discharge, the patient must be assessed and exposed to a pathway out of their demise.
Interim Health Orders are, as the name implies, a temporary authority to allow Authorised Officers to secure and transport illicit drug-affected persons to the MSRC.
Similarly, an Interim Heath Order would be an appropriate method to protect a drunk taken to the Drunk Tank facilities.
Authorised Officers would be a member of the Police Force, Ambulance personnel and other officers employed by the Health Department.
Most addicts or over-imbibers are incapable of rational thought. Moreover, it can be difficult to determine whether a person is inebriated on drugs or excessive alcohol, with many using both.
Because the new facilities would have a more holistic health solution orientation, the attraction for drug dealers to hover around such a facility would be minimised.
A person who has been subject to an IHO or a HO when discharged from the MSRC should be transported to a mutually agreed location. This is critical to disperse dealers from hovering near an exit waiting for customers.
Rehabilitation
A joint report released in November 2022 between KPMG and Rethink Addiction has revealed:
‘The cost of addiction in Australia was an estimated $80.3 billion in 2021. In addition to this, the value of lost life was reported at a staggering $173.8 billion.’
Prescription and illicit drugs recorded 16% or $12.9 billion of that amount.
(We believe this figure may be a gross underestimation given the number of addicts.)
The National Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services says.
“It is well recognised that alcohol and other drugs (AOD) treatment is a good investment for governments and other funders with direct savings in future health costs, reduced demands on the criminal justice system and productivity gains. More importantly, evidence-informed treatment contributes to individual, social and economic goals by reducing the harms from alcohol or drug use and improving the well-being of individuals and families.”
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/national-quality-framework-for-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-services?
The Salvation Army in San Francisco has developed a system of care, ‘The Way Out’, and this concept could well be integrated into the MSRC and applies equally to the homeless and addicts.
Community cooperation
It is essential that for this new approach to succeed, nearly as much emphasis needs to be placed on taking the community along on the journey as creating the project.
It is imperative that well-thought-out and targeted marketing strategies aimed directly in a coordinated way at reducing the social acceptance of drug use and alcohol abuse are as essential as the other components.
Conclusion
The CAA recommends that a Working Party be established with the purpose of recommending to the Government how this initiative can be costed and implemented.
We know that where governments have given up on drug and alcohol abuse, crime is rampant, and the amenity of many a city and community is lost.
This proposal is a world first and will satisfy the ‘wolves and the lambs’, of Aesop’s fable.
by CAA | Aug 1, 2023 | Illicit Drugs, Library, Victoria Police Issues
If you speak to former senior police officers, they will tell you they fear an outbreak similar to the drug wars of Mokbel, Williams and others in the 1990s and the bike gang wars in the 2000s.
The murder last week of a former bikie and convicted killer, in one of Melbourne’s most prestigious and famous suburbs barely 3 km from the heart of Melbourne’s CBD is an ominous sign.
What leads someone to flagrantly walk up in a well-lit area (albeit late at night,but maybe not for the nightclub scene) and brazenly shoot a person who is walking with another in what is a busy part of Melbourne?
Put aside the personal animosity and/or financial motives that encourage this type of brazen behaviour, it is a total disrespect of our laws that concerns us most. This disrespect has been brought about by very poor government policy at both the state and council levels. We have at all levels of government a soft-on-crime policy that simply encourages people to disrespect the law, the police, and worse, their fellow members of society.
And it is not just one bad policy decision but a combination of many that drives this behaviour. If you are shown that there are little or no consequences for breaching the law, then many bad actors will breach the law.
We now have this on a scale I have never seen before, and the last straw has been the Spent Convictions Act.
This is perhaps the craziest piece of legislation I have ever come across. Sure, spent convictions for minor offences, especially when committed whilst young, is good policy. But to allow a person convicted of a serious offence, violence, robbery/home invasion or fraud to apply for their convictions to be spent secretly is bad policy.
The hearings (if at all as a magistrate can act without a hearing) are private and only the Attorney General, Police Commissioner, and the convicted felon appear. But what is crazy is that not only does a victim of a crime have no say but it is a crime for that victim ever to mention the conviction.
So, a person who was beaten up by their husband has to endure that person living next door to them when they are released from jail and cannot say to anyone (without committing an offence) that they are petrified of living in the same street. They cannot even disclose their fears to a treating medical practitioner. Ditto for a sex offender. Whilst working for children, disclosures are allowed under the legislation; as we have seen recently in Queensland, sex offenders will game the system. And if you are a victim, you can say nothing!
Any criminal can apply to have their conviction spent (provided they spent no more than 5 years in jail.). Why worry about being caught if you can get your conviction spent. The policy is bad for public safety, accountability and recidivism prevention. It disregards victims’ rights and justice and will be exploited by criminals.
Then let us turn to raising the age of criminal responsibility. Initially it is being raised from 10 to 12 and then in 2027 to 14. We have all seen in the USA that children are capable of committing horrendous crimes through accessing firearms. We see the same here with knives and blunt objects. Worse, this simply encourages adults to use children (just under 14) to be criminal mules. They will invade homes, break into cars, sell drugs and set upon rival gang members with no fear of facing the criminal justice system. All to assist their adult controllers.
We have also had the crime of public drunkenness removed. This was a tool used by police to ensure public safety, including the safety of the drunken person. It was used sensibly. It got what could turn into an ugly situation into a controllable situation, often with the intoxicated person going into a lockup for a few hours and then being released.
We cannot have our streets full of drunken persons, young persons encouraged to commit crimes because of no recourse nor homeless, drug dealers and petty criminals. But this is happening. We can see it every day as you walk through the streets of Melbourne. And those charged with keeping our streets safe are losing the tools to do so.
I finish with the “safe injecting rooms”. This is council and state government policy that has ruined parts of Richmond and will do so in the CBD. It will encourage dealers, street prostitutes and all sorts of criminals to fill our streets. It will discourage people from visiting the CBD and be a disaster for local businesses.
Bad policy delivers bad results. Rather than being soft on crime as our politicians have shown to be, we should have zero tolerance for crime.
by CAA | Jul 28, 2023 | Corruption, Investigations, Library, Politics, Victoria Police Issues
29th July 2023
In 2018, the full High Court found – “Victoria Police were guilty of reprehensible conduct in knowingly encouraging [Gobbo] to do as she did and were involved in sanctioning atrocious breaches of the sworn duty of every police officer”.
Of course, they could not do that on their own and needed the support or involvement of Officers of the Court – Lawyers.
The Herald Sun July 27, 2023, pp1, 6-7, refers to a number of Justice figures demanding a review of the decision not to pursue charges in the Lawyer X case and notes that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Kerri Judd, had represented former Chief Commissioner, Simon Overland, in legal proceeding raising concerns about a serious conflict of interest. The calls for a review of the decision are supported by Senior legal officials, including a former Vice President of the Victorian Bar Council.
It should be noted that former High Court Judge, Geoffrey Nettle AC KC, has expressed serious concerns about the decision of Judd not to bring prosecutions.
The Community Advocacy Alliance Inc., (CAA), since January 2020, has published several articles on our website relating to the Lawyer X scandal, highly critical of the conduct of Gobbo and senior police involved in this fiasco and calling for those responsible to be held to account. We are in total support of the calls for an independent assessment of the evidence, and if that assessment supports the laying of charges against police or anyone else, demand that this be done expeditiously.
Only then can we, the public, be confident that justice is not only done but seen to be done.
The current status puts perpetrators above the law.
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Extracts from our articles are set out below with links to full articles.
YOUR MOVE PREMIER -LAWYER X
CAA | Jun 25, 2023, https://caainc.org.au/your-move-premier-lawyer-x/
When Law enforcement becomes law-breaking, there must be accountabilities. The continuing saga of the Lawyer-X criminality by law enforcement appears to be one of the most serious overreaches by serving police personnel in Legal History…
LAWYER X FAILURE TO PROSECUTE – AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE
CAA | Jun 22, 2023, https://caainc.org.au/lawyer-x-failure-to-prosecute-an-absolute-disgrace/
Once again, we see the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) refusing to act on clear and compelling evidence of the commission of criminal offences.
When the Special Investigator, Geoffrey Nettle AC KC, a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy, recommends prosecutions, one could reasonably think that the evidence of the commission of criminal offences must be clear and compelling…
LAWYER-X ACCUSED MUST FACE COURT
June 23, 2023, https://caainc.org.au/lawyer-x-accused-must-face-court/
The continuing saga of the Lawyer-X criminality by law enforcement appears to be one of the most serious overreaches by serving police personnel in Legal History. How can it be that nobody is going to be held accountable?
LAWYER X – IT’S NOT JUST THE COPS
CAA | Dec 6, 2020, https://caainc.org.au/lawyer-x-its-not-just-the-cops/
From the outset, it must be made clear that the CAA does not support the use of lawyer Gobbo by the Victoria Police in the way it was done; it was unlawful, and Gobbo and the executive Police responsible must be held to account before the Law…
LAWYER X – THE AFTERMATH
CAA | Sep 2, 2020, https://caainc.org.au/lawyer-x-the-aftermath/
Nobel cause corruption’ (the ends justify the means) is as unlawful as the normal interpretation of corruption. It diminishes the role of the Police in our society, as has the behaviours of the Police executive who promoted and or failed to manage the Lawyer X calamity and whose leadership was lacking throughout…
MANAGING POLICE INFORMERS LIKE GOBBO & ALLEN
CAA | Feb 9, 2020, https://caainc.org.au/managing-police-informers-like-gobbo-allen/
Failing to recognise a loss of objectivity is evident in the Gobbo matter and a damming indictment of the police executives’ lack of competence. The buck, however, stops with the Chief Commissioner and in this protracted affair, no less than four Chief Commissioners failed to resolve or wheel in this train wreck, and each of them took the same Oath to the other Police involved…
THE GOBBO SHOW ROLLS ON…
CAA | Jan 4, 2020, https://caainc.org.au/the-gobo-show-rolls-on/
Many Victorians were sceptical of the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants. As the process started, most public sentiment towards the Royal Commission was, it is a waste of time because even if the Police tactics were not kosher with lawyers, the end justified the means.
After all, we are not talking about the pillars of society, but murderers and drug lords being locked up, and that is a good thing, isn’t it?
As many Victorians have watched the evolution of this Commission, attitudes are changing…
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The community is quickly realising that the old adage, ‘whether you are a prince or pauper, saint or sinner’, we are, and should all be, equal before the Law. Although in Victoria, depending on who you are, that principle is corrupted.
Culpability must also extend to those executives that conspired to cover up the actions of this artifice, whether by use of the legal system or otherwise, that only served to extend and exacerbate the original reprehensible behaviour. In many ways, their behaviour is more reprehensible than the original architects.
They all must have known what was going on. It is fanciful to suggest that authorising or orchestrating a cover-up without knowing what you are covering up beggar’s belief.
It is also bordering on fanciful that lawyers, particularly those who conspired with Victoria Police to hide the Gobbo matters using the Courts, didn’t know what was going on. Remember that lawyers are Officers of the Court, and with that goes obligations that some may well have breached.
Equally, there are no doubt senior Police Officers, many still serving, who were totally cognisant of what was happening and the criminal and moral culpability but chose to support or take no action against the perpetrators and are therefore equally complicit.
The Police’s disgraceful and conscious dismissal of their principles in their oath of office brings great shame on them and all Victoria Police, serving, and who have served – something they will have to live with forever.
The only way to deal with this matter is to purge the culprits and give genuine Police, Lawyers and the community some reason to have confidence in the Legal system by removing this dark shadow.
We can only hope and encourage that the day of reckoning is sooner rather than later.
by CAA | Jul 16, 2023 | Library, Youth
17th July 2023
Youth offending has been brought up again, this time by Chief Commissioner Shane Patton, who calls for exemptions to the impact of lifting the age of criminal responsibility from ten to thirteen.
However, this move from the Chief to fix an unrealistic situation created by the legislators will only complicate managing youth crime, making it more difficult for the police and potentially opening up opportunities for career-ending litigation should any police member break the new rules, even inadvertently.
It will not reduce criminality by this cohort but increase it, putting children and the community at further risk.
The changes rely on perceptions, not facts, and what may seem appropriate to police involved in an incident may well be rejected subsequently by a court. Who incidentally was not there when the incident occurred.
The process will become so complicated that police accoutrements (equipment carried by Police) will need to include a ‘Youth Criminal manual’ for each member to refer to.
“Stop the car chase, while I check the procedure; they may be children.”
The CAA has a long history of advocating for intervention at an earlier age to deter children from committing crimes, the proactive approach. We now accept that because of other factors outside the control of the police, the situation has deteriorated dramatically, and the impact on police resources is so severe by recidivist offenders, particularly in the youth cohort, reactive responses must be the priority until the situation stabilises.
We support and encourage the Chief Commissioner to redirect all proactive and support resources to the front line of youth crime. That includes all special interest groups within VicPol, irrespective of how important the people in these groups feel their work is, as well as suspending all training to free up training staff as well as students.
As the situation continues to deteriorate, a repose similar to a war footing must be adopted.
An influx of hundreds of extra police, their vehicles and other resources will lift dramatically the ability of Police to increase patrols.
This, however, cannot be used as a catalyst for police to absolve the function of Proactive policing permanently and must include a sunset clause.
The operation must have a monthly review of progress and, in the first instance, be for a period of six months.
The blame, however, for that deterioration must be placed squarely at the feet of the Judiciary. But as is often the case, the solution in part relies on the Police.
To succeed, the courts have to do their part, albeit they caused it.
The failure to rein in criminality amongst the youth is also not the fault of the pundit’s favourite whipping horse, their parents. Parents are effectively excluded from the Judicial process even if they are present.
The judiciary must accept the responsibility for the rising crime rate as the reins are in their hands, nobody else’s.
The judiciary is the final arbiter regarding the consequences a juvenile may face. Those consequences must be a consequence in the eyes of the juvenile, not the judiciary.
One thing is blatantly apparent; the youth do not respond well to the current raft of penalty options issued by the courts. The flaw is that the youths do not understand they are being punished; instead, they have been merely inconvenienced by going to court.
As soon as their case is finalised and they walk out of the court, in their minds, they have won, irrespective of what the Court says. They have bragging rights among their peers that they beat the charges, deterrent lost.
Irrespective of what the courts may impose other than detention, they have won.
We are not advocating detention in every case but certainly for recidivists, and the penalty must be realistic.
Young people operate in a different time zone to mature adults hence their tendency to live in the moment, so a detention penalty of a few days the first time, escalating by a few weeks for reoffending, would be the deterrent that will work without creating the hardened criminal that social engineers claim will be the outcome. Operating on youth time is the key.
The habit of governments following ideological whims to remove criticism by pretending they are addressing a problem is fraught with danger, the problem will not go away if the rules are relaxed.
This is a similar approach to the drug epidemic.
It is, however, a disgrace and a terrible indictment imposed on the youth and the victims.
What about the victims of youth actions that will no longer be criminal, but which severely damage the property or rights of these victims? Will the Government compensate victims?
Will victims have access to Victims’ support, given the actions of this group are no longer criminal? Why should innocent victims bear the loss and burden?
Will insurers still honour policies when the damage is not a crime?
For example, a group of eleven-year-olds is actively stealing from shops. Is the shop owner within their rights to physically detain the youths and recover his or her property, with force if necessary? Young offenders know what they are doing is wrong. Irrefutable evidence of this is that they flee when challenged. If they did not know what they were doing was wrong, why would they flee?
Rather than resolving and working pragmatically to address the problem, the government has created a monster that will have unintended and dramatic adverse consequences.
The judiciary that created this problem with the support industries of the social manipulators that have evolved around the court system must be tasked with resolving it.
Rather than working pragmatically to address the problem, the government has created a monster that will have unintended and dramatic consequences.
There is no better demonstration of the many breakdowns of the Legal system than the approach to bail. We regularly hear that perpetrators commit serious offences while on Bail; the idiocy is that these same perpetrators regularly have their original bail extended, but you never hear that the Bail has been forfeited.
The net effect is that Bail does not act as a deterrent, part of its function.
Victim’s rights must be protected. To do otherwise is to condone crime.
If we do not push back against this idiocy and the failure of the courts to accept responsibility for the loss of young lives, ‘ARE WE BARKING MAD OR JUST PLAIN STUPID?’
by CAA | Jun 28, 2023 | Corruption, Library, Victoria Police Issues
29th of June 2023
The apathy of citizens, in general, has always been a problem in every democracy.
There is nowhere that this is more evident than in politics in Victoria.
Governments of every political persuasion have a duty to act ethically, be accountable to the electorate and be competent.
The Community Advocacy Alliance Inc. (CAA) has no political affiliations. If the Government of the day is failing to meet the required standards, we will be highly critical regardless of the political party in power, be that Labor, Liberal, Greens or any other Party or Coalition.
This is a fundamental principle in our determination to try to give a voice to the largely unheard people of this State. Those of us who do care.
We certainly have been and will continue to be, highly critical of the current Labor Government led by Premier Daniel Andrews.
Our criticism is not about Labor’s politics but solely about their behaviour.
Examples of incompetence and misconduct abound.
At the top of the list is the 800+ deaths in the Quarantine debacle. The waste of about $1.2 million on the cancellation of the Eastlink Freeway extension. The “Red Shirts Rort”, which saw Labor pay back just under $400,000, the Lawyer X fiasco, “Slug Gate”, and Ministers rorting their travelling allowances, just to name a few.
Politicians ferrying pets or using a Govermremt vehicle for their private business; this type of behaviour is unacceptable.
Every major project undertaken by Labor has cost overruns of not millions but billions of dollars. Victoria’s debt is greater than three other Australian States. Does this seem like a competent Government? Your money, taxpayers.
The North-South Pipeline that cost billions is a classic act of budgetary vandalism and never has been and is not likely to be ever used. Not being prepared to accept the error of this project, we are paying for expensive maintenance – for what benefit? The Desal plant was built at the same time to drought-proof the State, so why a North-South Pipeline was ever a viable or necessary project is seriously questionable.
No Political party has the ticker or competence to accept reality and stop wasting money on maintenance and recycle what is recoverable from the project. If, at some future time, the Pipeline is required, the savings achieved will comfortably pay for the reestablishment. The most expensive part, the pipes, will remain serviceable.
It is strange that none of this seems to resonate with electors.
All of these matters cost taxpayers millions of dollars annually, and yet most of us do nothing.
Apathy reigns supreme.
The CAA implores every voter to get involved and demand the highest standards of behaviour from whichever political party is in power.
Unless this happens, anarchy will remain a grave danger to our democracy.
