NSW pill testing bill support booms as Greens prepare to present this week

The Greens are trying to pressure parliament to debate their bill for a pill-testing trial following the death of two men at a music festival in Sydney last month.

Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann will present her drug checking bill for a second reading. It would allow organisations – including festival organisers – to apply for one of three mobile licences, and one fixed site licence, to conduct pill testing.

The NSW government has no plans to introduce pill testing, with Premier Chris Minns arguing it’s not a one-stop solution for preventing drug deaths.

“I don’t want to give anyone … an impression that pill testing is a silver bullet that will stop every harm happening at a festival,” he said last week.

Minns has said he would not consider pill testing or any other major reforms until after a promised drug summit takes place. That summit is yet to be scheduled.

A spokesperson said the NSW government would work to implement “sensible harm reduction initiatives” to support a safe environment at festivals.

“Pill testing may test for the presence of particular compounds in a pill or capsule, but not all. It also doesn’t take into account an individual’s physiology. It therefore does not indicate a pill is safe to consume,” the spokesperson said.

Faehrmann hopes to garner support from the crossbench, with Legalise Cannabis MLC Jeremy Buckingham and Labor’s Stephen Lawrence voicing their support for pill testing in parliament last week.

Under the proposed law, licence holders would be required to inform the Chief Health Officer, the NSW Police Commissioner and the NSW Health Deputy Secretary about new contaminants and drugs with high potencies within 24 hours, and submit a report of their findings to be tabled in parliament.