Kalgoorlie AOD Agency Forum report

Kalgoorlie AOD Agency Forum report

Background

The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) has commenced a process whereby it holds a local agency forum, in conjunction with its meeting in each State and Territory. Given the Council only meets 4 times a year, a number of additional forums in rural and regional Australia are now also being conducted. These forums form part of the Council’s strategy to fulfil its role of representing the views of non-government and community-based organisations working in the drug and alcohol field.

It should be noted that all the issues raised at the Forums are not necessarily areas that the Council will be able to address. They do however provide an important touchstone for the Council's members.

The Council also intends to prepare a report on the issues affecting the alcohol and other drug sector at the completion of its rural and regional consultation forums in December 2000.

Kalgoorlie – Alcohol and Other Drug Sector Agency Forum

Approximately 20 people from the Kalgoorlie - Goldfields and surrounding area drug and alcohol field, including non-government sector and government representatives, attended a forum hosted by the Council on the 17th of October 2000.

Mr Gino Vumbaca (ANCD Executive Officer) opened the Forum and introduced Major Brian Watters (ANCD Chairman) and Mr Arthur Toon (WA based ANCD Representative).

Major Watters outlined the role of the Council, it’s Key Activity Areas and the membership of the Council. Major Watters also stressed the importance of working in partnership across sectors and the unique position of the ANCD being at the highest level of policy making. Major Watters concluded by outlining the recently commissioned projects by the ANCD such as indigenous programs research, rural study grants and papers on effective treatments, heroin overdose and policy achievements.

The floor was then opened for questions and comments, with discussion facilitated by Mr Vumbaca.

Forum participants provided the following background information on the alcohol and other drug scene in Kalgoorlie and surrounding areas:

Alcohol has been, and remains the main issue in regard to substance use problems.
The use of amphetamines is seen to be quite high and increasing - with many mine workers in their 20’s and 30’s using the drug for recreational and work purposes.
There are high rates of anti-depressant use.
Substance use, and particularly alcohol, is viewed as being the norm in the Kalgoorlie and surrounding region.
It was recognised that West Australia is well resourced by the State in the drug and alcohol sector, particularly in Perth, compared to most other States and Territories.

The following themes were raised and discussed throughout the forum:

There was acknowledgement of the problems associated with solvent abuse, in particular the lack of apparent inter-agency co-ordination or responsibility taken for programs addressing this area and the need to address structural issues for youth such as lack of affordable facilities, inappropriate living conditions etc.
There was agreement that whilst there was a lack of residential services (detoxification, rehabilitation etc) in the area there was a need to be innovative in the solutions to be sought given that it was unlikely that every community could be funded to provided these services. There was also a perception that most locals would not utilise locally based services due to self-identification and stigma problems, particularly in smaller communities. Addressing the difficulty in getting clients transportation to services in Perth, particularly from outlying areas of the Goldfields region, was viewed as being a way to possibly address this lack of local services issue.
It was believed that racism exists in the region and that there are 2 classes of people, that is, black and white. It was acknowledged that the needs of Indigenous people were very different and should address broader issues of culture loss and resources and skills requirements to be effective.
There appears to be a lack of facilities and resources for youth. It was felt that youth seemed to be ignored by the system to some extent. The need to work with parents and families to effectively address youth substance use issues was also highlighted.
The need to address alcohol abuse was also highlighted. In particular there was strong support for recent calls of increased taxes on cask wines and for wider community education campaigns about alcohol.
There was strong support for the community itself to contribute to drug and alcohol awareness campaigns and services. It was acknowledged that the region is comparatively wealthy yet little corporate or community funds are directed towards drug and alcohol issues. The majority of financial support goes to established sporting bodies. The need for a community commitment to resolve its own drug and alcohol use issues was required before any real gains are likely to be made.
The Forum acknowledged the community concern about inappropriate disposal of needles and syringes and recognised a need for greater public education on the public health benefits of such programs.
There was also concern expressed about the delays in getting funding to the actual local service providers, particularly in regard to some of the recent Federal Government announcements.

17 October 2000

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