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Submission to the Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024

QNADA recently made a submission to the Submission to the Truth and Justice Commission Bill 2024. Overall, we supported the bills intention to recognise the important role that truth telling and accountability for government actions in progressing reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Within the submission we:

  • Reiterated the importance of the Closing the Gap which, according to the 2024 Productivity Commission Review, has been plagued by large scale inaction by government and non-government bodies alike
  • Recommended that the Commission commit to diversity within the membership. Sistergirl and Brotherboys, young people, people with disability, people who use drugs and people removed from their families both by the stolen generations and as a result of the institutionally racist Child Protection system must be included and represented on the Commission.
  • Argued that drug laws, policies, and practices disproportionally effect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the Country and that the targeted criminalisation of indigenous communities has generational impacts on children and young people.

You can read the full submission here.

Submission to the Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024

QNADA recently made a submission to the proposed Making Queensland Safer Bill 2024. The submission stressed our concern that the legislative changes will result in the further criminalisation of young people who use drugs and that it will undermine the key outcomes that governments are seeking to achieve through these policies, including those aimed at reducing recidivism and improving community safety.

In particular, we argued that removing the principle of detention as last resort and allowing cautions and restorative justice agreements to appear on the criminal history of a child will result in further harm to children and communities. Considering that this Act will increase the number of young people who are incarcerated, we also argued that there are significant challenges to equitable access to appropriate healthcare within correctional settings which must be addressed.

You can read the full submission here.

Submission to the Inquiry into the health impacts of alcohol and other drugs in Australia

QNADA provided a submission to the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport’s Inquiry into the health impacts of alcohol and other drugs in Australia.

The submission addressed key structural issues within Australia’s drug and alcohol policy, focussing on issues where federal government leadership is needed.

Our submission focussed on five key areas:

  1. The need for greater balance across the three pillars of Australian alcohol and drug policy spending, in particular the need to increase the funding for prevention, treatment, and harm reduction.
  2. The need for national level governance structures in order to address a lack of coordination in priorities and funding within the Australian AOD sector.
  3. The need to resolve issues within the current funding, contracting, and commissioning environment which hamstring the ability of AOD services to operate effectively.
  4. The value of reframing the policy narrative around AOD.
  5. The value of decriminalisation.

Please click here to read the full submission.

Submission to the Inquiry into Reducing Rates of E-Cigarette Use in Queensland

This submission discusses a range of issues relevant to the Committee’s terms of reference including:

  • the importance of understanding the limitations of how data around e-cigarette use (vaping) is currently collated and reported;
  • that the overall ‘risks’ of nicotine vaping products are significantly less than those associated with traditional cigarettes and it is important that any perceived risks are balanced against evidence which shows their potential for use as a smoking cessation aid;
  • that any approaches in schools and other settings relevant to children and young people which seek to discourage the uptake and use of e-cigarettes should be evidence informed and accord with ‘what works’ in responding to alcohol and other drug use among young people;
  • the need for a better understanding of the available research about the risks and harms associated with e-cigarettes, which are largely associated with the currently unregulated market; and
  • the overarching need to re-establish a national governance framework for responding to these types of emergent issues in a more coordinated way.

Please click here to read the full submission.

Submission to the Independent Commission of Inquiry into Queensland Policy Service Responses to Domestic and Family Violence

This submission seeks to build on QNADA’s Submission to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce which considered:

  • the role that non-government alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services can play in responding to domestic and family violence;
  • the ongoing importance of enhancing understanding of the inter-relationship between domestic and family violence and alcohol and other drug use;
  • and the stigma and discrimination faced by victims of domestic and family violence who may use substances (particularly illicit drugs).

In considering the Commission’s Terms of Reference and the experiences of the people engaged with our member services who are impacted by domestic and family violence this submission makes a number of observations in relation to:

  • the impact of stigma and discrimination on if, how, and when victims may seek assistance from police, particularly where they use illicit drugs;
  • the current inability of agencies to safely advocate at an individual, local or systems level where instances of poor service delivery from police may be identified; and
  • the evident disconnect between a stated policy intent and how initiatives are implemented operationally across the Queensland Police Service.

Please click here to read the full submission.

Submission on the Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022

QNADA prepared this submission on the Corrective Services (Emerging Technologies and Security) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 by considering aspects most relevant to our work and our members. Many of our member services support people who have previously been in, or are in, correctional centres or youth detention facilities which provides us with a clear understanding of how any proposed legislative amendments may be implemented or operationalised across Queensland. In the submission we discussed the following points in detail:

  • Modernising the emergency response framework
  • Criminalising evolving behaviours putting corrective services facilities and youth detention centres at risk and the use of x-ray body scanners and other emerging technologies
  • Enhancing information sharing

Please click here to read the full submission.

Submission to the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Amendment Bill 2023

QNADA recently made a submission to the Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Amendment Bill 2023. We have concerns over an increased regulatory response to further reduce smoking rate in Queensland. We think the provision of evidence-based tobacco prevention and cessation programs as part of routine care across all health and community services and in correctional settings, including within alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services, is more beneficial in helping people to reduce their use.

Please refer to the full submission here.

Submission to the Inspector of Detention Services Bill 2021

QNADA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Inspector of Detention Services Bill 2021. We commend the intent of the Bill and recognise the important role that the Inspector of Detention Services will have in ensuring accountability and oversight of detention in Queensland with a view to promoting and upholding the humane treatment and conditions of the people detained.

QNADA members provide a diverse range of alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services to people with alcohol and other drug issues in detention facilities. Our feedback is primarily related to the provisions around the interactions between the Inspector of Detention Services and alcohol and other drug treatment and harm reduction services delivered in detention facilities, as well as those delivered to people exiting detention facilities or engaged with community corrections.

Please read the full submission here.

Submission to the Strengthening Community Safety Bill 2023

QNADA’s member services work at the intersection of multiple different systems and provide support to young people and their families who are in contact with, or are at risk of having contact with, the youth justice system. This makes us uniquely positioned to comment on the proposed amendments, which are:

  • contradictory to what we know works when responding to youth crime;
  • out of step with other Australian jurisdictions; and
  • inconsistent with recent commitments by the Queensland Government to reduce demand within the criminal justice system, address the overrepresentation of First Nations people within the youth justice and criminal justice systems and achieve health equity by 2030.

For these reasons, QNADA does not support this Bill, including the supposition that its incompatibility with the Human Rights Act 2019 and international standards is justified ‘to respond to the small cohort of serious repeat young offenders who engage in persistent and serious offending, in particular, offending which occurs while on bail.’ The amendments will have significant implications for all young people on bail and, as with other strategies that aim to increase police presence and enforcement, will only serve to increase the number of young people detected, arrested and incarcerated in Queensland.

Please read the full submission here.

Submission to the Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023

QNADA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, and recognises the proposed expansion of the Police Drug Diversion Program (PDDP) as an important step toward reducing the potential for harms associated with AOD use in Queensland. This submission focuses on:

  • the significant individual, social and economic harms caused by the criminalisation of people who use drugs;
  • shortcomings in the operation of the current PDDP to effectively divert people who use drugs who would otherwise not come to the attention of police away from the criminal justice system;
    the importance of practice change within the Queensland Police Service (QPS) that takes into account the experiences of people who use drugs and their interactions with police, and seeks to address the impact of stigma and discrimination embedded in policing practices;
  • issues with the Bill, including with respect to the potential for inequity in the response to children and young people;
  • opportunities to learn from the implementation challenges identified with the current approach to improve quality assurance processes and establish a strong, independent monitoring and evaluation framework; and
  • other opportunities to further reduce the harms associated with the current policy approach to drug use, including the increasing shift towards decriminalisation across multiple jurisdictions.

Please click here to read the full submission.

Please feel free to watch our appearance at the the public hearing for the Inquiry into Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 here (QNADA appeared from 5:09:45).

Submission to the Queensland Women’s Health Strategy Consultation Paper

QNADA welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Queensland Women’s Health Strategy Consultation Paper. We commend the intent of the development of the Queensland Women’s Health Strategy and recognise the importance of working to achieve gender equality and health equity in Queensland by advancing the rights and interests of women and girls, including those who use alcohol and other drugs (AOD).

While the majority of people who use AOD do not experience problems with their use, a proportion (11-12%) are likely to require specialist treatment. In Australia, women represent approximately 40% of the proportion of people accessing AOD treatment services. They continue to face a range of treatment access barriers due to issues such as:

  • continuing treatment and harm reduction supply issues in the face of increasing demand
  • fear of legal and social repercussions of service engagement
  • employment and family responsibilities
  • implications relating to parenting, pregnancy, and childbirth (e.g. potential for child protection involvement resulting reduced willingness to approach services for assistance).

Despite welcome increased investment into the AOD system in recent years, as well as recognition of these barriers, women remain underrepresented in treatment and strategies are required to increase accessibility.

A range of strategies and initiatives have the potential to make it easier for women to access AOD treatment when they need it. These include:

  • offering free child care to women accessing AOD treatment
  • expanding existing day rehabilitation program options to enable increased treatment availability during school hours
  • establishing/funding dedicated programs for women
  • expansion of programs that support families to stay together while a parent is undergoing residential rehabilitation (e.g. family units)
  • other initiatives to reduce stigma and discrimination of woman who use AOD.

Please click here to read the full submission.

QNADA submission to the Inquiry into Australia’s illicit drug problem: challenges and opportunities for law enforcement

Late last year QNADA developed a submission for the Commonwealth Inquiry into Australia’s illicit drug problem: challenges and opportunities for law enforcement. The submission identified 5 key areas of improvement to the existing Australian approach to illicit drug law enforcement:

  1. The removal of criminal penalties for possession (decriminalisation) as a prudent strategy to reduce the investment required over time to process people through the criminal justice system and increase opportunities for people to access treatment when they need it.
  2. A review of current approaches across law enforcement, treatment and harm reduction to ensure an appropriate balance across the three pillars of the National Drug Strategy in future investment.
  3. Focused awareness-raising and training for police and other law enforcement entities on the impact of stigma and discrimination for people who use drugs.
  4. The establishment of a new national governance framework to support effective coordination of the National Drug Strategic Framework, which includes representation from NGO AOD peak bodies.
  5. A reinforced and sustained commitment by law enforcement agencies to support the implementation of evidence based harm reduction strategies such as drug checking services, safe injecting facilities, expanded diversion initiatives and improved access to naloxone.

QNADA’s submission to the Inquiry into Australia’s illicit drug problem: challenges and opportunities for law enforcement is available at https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Law_Enforcement/IllicitDrugs/Submissions