ACT government-approved trial of testing pushed for by harm-minimisation advocates but Spilt Milk organisers say it will not go ahead

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The Australian Capital Territory Liberal party has taken credit for blocking a pioneering pill-testing trial at an Australian music festival after organisers announced it will no longer go ahead.

On Friday ACT Liberals congratulated the shadow attorney general, Jeremy Hanson, for “intervening” to block a pill-testing trial at the Spilt Milk festival in Canberra.

The trial had been approved by the ACT Labor Greens coalition government in September. At the time the health minister, Meegan Fitzharris, had said pill testing would “keep people safe”.

But on Thursday one of the festival organisers told ABC radio the trial would no longer go ahead because the group contracted to conduct the trial, Safety Testing Advisory Service at Festivals and Events, or STA-Safe, a consortium of pill-testing advocates, had not provided the relevant “documentation”.

“It comes down to STA-Safe,” said Ryan Phillips, a director of Kicks Entertainment. “They need more time to provide documentation, insurance, legal framework to operate on federal land.”

But STA-Safe denied it had been slow to provide documents. Its spokesman, Dr David Caldicott, believed the organisers had been subjected to political pressure.

While the ACT government approved the trial, the organisers require a licence from the National Capital Authority, a federal authority which manages planning and development of Commonwealth land in Canberra.

Allowing pill testing at the Spilt Milk festival would be a big win for public health | A Wodak, M Noffs, T Makkai Read more

Caldicott said that until Wednesday this week the group had not been told of any issues with documentation. Then, he said, festival organisers held a meeting with the NCA and were told more information was required.

But Caldicott said STA-Safe had not been contacted, and had been unable to find out from the NCA what documents it needed. “We were never sent a list of what documentation was required, and when we tried to get in touch with NCA they wouldn’t take out calls,” he said.

“It quickly became quite clear that this was not about documentation. Otherwise I’m sure we would have been able to provide them. We’re researchers, we’re diligent.”

The NCA has not responded to numerous calls for comment from the Guardian Australia.

But Caldicott said a letter written by Hanson to the federal government suggested attempts to block the trial.

In September he wrote to the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, and the minister for local government, Fiona Nash, raising his opposition to the trial.

“I note the NCA’s functions specify that it conduct works that are ‘desirable to maintain or enhancer the character of the national capital’,” he wrote.

Under the NCA legislation the federal government could “give the authority general directions in writing as to the performance of its functions”.

A spokeswoman for Hanson said he had not received a response from either Hunt or Nash, and that he had not spoken to the NCA.

But on Friday, the ACT Liberal party seemed to take credit for the trial not going ahead, tweeting “well done” to Hanson for “intervening” on the “dangerous pill-testing trial”.

The trial at the Spilt Milk festival would have been the first time the process – which proponents of harm minimisation have long called for – had been allowed to operate at an Australian event. At the time advocates described it as a win for public health.

Canberra Liberals (@CanberraLibs) Well done @JeremyHansonMLA for intervening on #ACT Labor Government's dangerous pill testing trial in #Canberra #CBR https://t.co/ZsvOH9855D

A similar proposal for the Canberra leg of the Groovin’ the Moo festival was denied this year but the ACT’s health minister had said pill testing would be available at Spilt Milk “to keep people safe”.

On Thursday the acting health minister, Shane Rattenbury, said he was aware of speculation the pill-testing trial would not go ahead.

“The ACT government has approved pill testing and believes that it’s a valuable harm minimisation measure,” he told the ABC. “We put the arrangements in place with various government authorities such as ACT Policing.”

Under the plan those attending the festival would have been able to take their drugs to the testing site to find out more about the ingredients. They would then have the choice of dumping the drugs in amnesty bins, which would be destroyed on site, or holding on to them.

Every participant would be warned by trained counsellors about the health risks of taking illicit drugs. They would be advised that the testing process had limits and could not identify every substance in a sample.