New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has addressed renewed calls for pill-testing in the state following the death of a man who attended a Sydney music festival over the weekend.
Kieran Ngo, 26, died from a suspected drug overdose after attending Sydney Olympic Park dance festival Transmission on Saturday (February 11). The premier spoke to the press today outside of Jamison High School in the south of Penrith, offering condolences to Ngo’s family while also reiterating the government’s zero-tolerance stance on drugs.
“To people across New South Wales: stay safe, and don’t take drugs,” he said, per Sky News. The premier also knocked back any reconsideration of pill-testing, insisting that his state government had other plans.
“We had an inquiry into ice, [from] which we adopted many recommendations in relation to those issues, which we believe will make a real difference to families right across NSW,” he said.
“My clear message to people right across NSW [is] stay safe, and don’t take drugs, and you will be safe.”
Twelve attendees of Transmission – which was termed a high-risk event under the Music Festivals Act 2019 – were taken to hospital for treatment relating to drug use, reports the Guardian, with seven requiring intubation.
David Caldicott – an emergency doctor and one of the people behind Canberra-based pill-testing service CanTest – spoke with The Guardian following Perrottet’s dismissal of the policy. “It’s aspirational, but it’s not realistic,” he said of the Premier’s abstinence stance.
“For the people who aren’t using drugs, that’s a great message. When I go and talk at my kid’s primary school, I always say you shouldn’t use drugs. But is it an effective message to the people who do use drugs? No. Because they are already using drugs. It’s exactly the same as Nancy Reagan’s ‘just say no.'”
Caldicott went on to note that it was “magical thinking” for people – particularly politicians – to “hope for a drug-free Australia”.
“If we want to actually reduce the number of people who die from drugs, that will require some different policies certainly than what you have in NSW,” he said. “There is a credibility gap which exists in Australian politics – and, unfortunately, it looks like one that a lot of politicians aren’t concerned about crossing.”
Last year, pill testing was pulled from Groovin The Moo Canberra at the eleventh hour, due to insurers withdrawing their coverage and support for pill-testing. It had run on a trial basis at the festival’s 2019 iteration, and had potentially saved seven lives in the process.