FREMANTLE council has deferred supporting a supervised drug injection room in Fremantle after getting a brush-off from the Cook government.
The council was due to vote on a new Health and Wellbeing Plan at Wednesday’s ordinary meeting, but after councillor Jemima Williamson-Wong suggested an amendment calling on the state government to establish an injection room, some of her colleagues got cold feet.
The issue had already been raised in an informal councillor meeting in early March, but a staff report said it wasn’t followed through because there were no precedents in WA to draw on, while the Cook government “has indicated it does not intend to pursue this model”.
Drug use in the city’s CBD was a hot topic on Facebook page Freo Massive over the last fortnight after a poster complained about left-over syringes and drug paraphernalia in the Walyalup Civic Centre’s toilets.
Another member remarked that they had seen people injecting drugs in the street while heading to work.
Cr Williamson Wong believes an injecting room could provide the answer.
“You want these facilities to exist where drug-use already happens and we know that that is Fremantle; for that reason I think it’s really important we address that in this plan,” Cr Williamson-Wong said.
“The current state government does not have an appetite for it, but I do think it’s important that it’s listed on there.”
Former Fremantle Mayor and Greens MLC Brad Pettitt has been a vocal supporter for supervised injecting rooms in Fremantle.
“WA has been one of the least progressive states when it comes to harm reduction,” Dr Pettitt said.
“The evidence from other states is that they can have a positive health impact and ultimately reduce illicit drug use in the community,”
It was during Dr Pettitt’s term as mayor that the council successfully pushed for a needle exchange program at Fremantle Hospital.
“Whilst there was early localised pushback from some who did not want these kinds of facilities in our community, over time they have come to be seen as a sensible part of health-based solutions to addiction,” Dr Pettitt said.
But the program requires users to leave the facility to inject, in some cases leaving them no choice but to use public spaces nearby.
Medically supervised injecting rooms offer wraparound health and social services while providing a non-judgemental environment.
A clinic in Richmond, Melbourne saw 12,515 overdoses safely managed between June 30, 2018 and December 31, 2025, helping reduce the strain on emergency services.
However, medically supervised injecting rooms have always been a divisive issue within communities.
“We are trying to get people to invest and spend money in the city,” said John Dowson, a former Fremantle councillor and resident of over 30 years.
Mr Dowson worries that opening a supervised injecting clinic in the city could “make Fremantle a Mecca for other people’s problems”.
Legalise Cannabis WA MLC Brian Walker put forward a private members’ bill in 2023 calling on the McGowan government to look at the evidence from the Victorian injecting room with the aim of rolling them out in WA, but his motion lapsed.
“What we need to do is to actually minimise harm and to encourage wellness,” Dr Walker said.
“Giving people a place where they are not looked at askance when using drugs and have an opportunity to deal with the underlying problems, that is going to return people to wellness.”
The Herald reached out to the WA Health Department for comment, but has yet to hear back.
by LOUIS HADI