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needle vending machine scheme flagged for west FOOTSCRAY
Footscray and Braybrook could be among the first locations in Victoria to host needle vending machines in a bid to cut infection rates among injecting drug users. Yarra Drug and Health Forum has flagged the machines as a 24-hour source of sterile needles, providing access when existing needle exchange programs are closed. Outgoing chief executive Greg Denham said the needles would only be accessible via a special token provided to users through
Mr Denham said studies had shown exchange services. “We see it as a commonevery dollar spent on preventing the spread sense response in areas where there is still an of infectious diseases returned $8 in active injecting population,” he said. health savings. He pointed to the “It has almost 100 per cent support “they are a successful roll-out of the machines among agencies.” in New South Wales in 1992 and Under the scheme, the unmarked response to other states and said it showed machines would be located at the an existing communities should not fear the sites of needle exchange programs, problem” initiative. filling a gap during which drug “People walking past won’t even users may otherwise share injecting know they are there. It’s not about just equipment and risk contracting plonking them anywhere; they are a response blood-borne diseases such as HIV and to an existing problem.” hepatitis C.
There are no legal reasons the machines cannot be introduced and Mr Denham expects they will appear within months in Footscray, Braybrook, St Kilda and North Richmond. Maribyrnong mayor Grant Miles said the council tentatively supported a trial. “The benefits of having clean needles available are well known,” he said. “There can be a bit of a misconception about how they work, but there is no way a child, for instance, could access the machines.” \ BENJAMIN MILLAR
grigorovitch departs, leaving gap on council
CARL MARSICH
New beginning: Luba Grigorovitch wants to devote more time to her “day job”. (SCOTT MCNAUGHTON)
women’s charter champion. She will stay on until the countback is completed.
Ousted councillor John Hogg, who received the second-highest number of primary votes in Wetlands ward (16.7 per cent), said he
Leading the Way! Westbourne Grammar School invites all students wishing to be considered for a place in Year 7 or Year 9 to sit our upcoming Placement Testing and Scholarship Testing. A Scholarship at Westbourne Grammar School provides an opportunity to attend a great school from Year 7 to 12. All students wishing to be considered for a General Excellence Scholarship must be academically sound and of outstanding all-round potential, be able to demonstrate that they will benefit from the School’s program and make a contribution to the life of the school.
JOHN HOGG
(DARREN HOWE)
Hobsons Bay councillor Luba Grigorovitch has resigned from the council, saying her new role with Victoria’s Rail, Tram and Bus Union would not enable her “to give 110 per cent”. The Victorian Electoral Commission will conduct a countback at 9am on February 13 to fill the council vacancy. Cr Grigorovitch, 28, is a second-term councillor representing Wetlands ward, comprising the suburbs of Altona Meadows, Seabrook and Laverton. The commission’s Thomas Harper said 4659 ballot papers that elected Cr Grigorovitch would be recounted. In November, Cr Grigorovitch made history as the first woman poised to lead the male-dominated, 8000-strong, blue-collar union. “I started the handover for my new role just on two months ago, before Christmas, and it was evident that being the state secretary and a councillor – it’s not doable,” she said. “I felt that I couldn’t do the job justice and I couldn’t give council the same level of attention and time as I was previously giving because I now have to give a lot more time to my day job.” Elected to the council in 2008, Cr Grigorovitch is also Hobsons Bay’s
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COUNCIL
believed he was unlikely to be elected. He said former mayor Carl Marsich, who received 14.75 per cent of primary votes, was “likely to be elected on the back of preferences from Cr Grigorovitch”. “If the election was to reflect the wishes of the community, I would be in the council,” Mr Hogg said. Mr Marsich said primary votes did not matter in a countback. “It’s quite a different system from what I can see,” he said. “I’ve noticed in some other councils, where someone might have had only a couple of percentage votes, they got elected basically as a result of the preference flow. Obviously, I was No.2 on [Cr Grigorovitch’s] ticket ... so I assume, obviously, I’d get a fairly good preference flow from that process.” \ GOYA DMYTRYSHCHAK
Testing Dates:
Registrations Close:
General Excellence Scholarships (Year 9, 2015) Saturday 22 February 2014
General Excellence Scholarships (Year 9, 2015) Wednesday 12 February 2014
Placement Testing (Year 7, 2015 and 2016 and Year 9, 2015) Saturday 1 March 2014
Placement Testing (Year 7, 2015 and 2016 and Year 9, 2015) Friday 21 February 2014
Music Scholarships (Years 7 - 11, 2015) Sunday 2 March 2014
Music Scholarships (Years 7 - 11, 2015) Friday 14 February 2014
To register, please visit www.westbournegrammar.com JANUARY 22, 2014 \ MARIBYRNONG & HOBSONS BAY WEEKLY 5