It’s that time of year when our minds turn towards thoughts of warmer days, time with family and dare I say, Christmas preparations! Not yet I hear you say!
For the team at the ATDC the end of the year is approaching quickly but there’s still a range of projects and activities happening before we say goodbye to 2019.
A major piece of work is the development of our annual Budget Priority Statement.
Every year the Tasmanian Government invites community groups and individuals to provide suggestions on priorities for the annual State Budget. Submissions are due on Friday, 6 December for the 2020-21 State Budget. Over the next few weeks the ATDC will be finalising our statement of recommendations which will request funding for an independent consumer representative organisation, and resources to improve access to, and the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drug data and information.
We are also eagerly awaiting the formal release of the NSW coroner’s recommendations into the NSW Festival Deaths and information from the independent review into the second trial of pill testing in the ACT. Both of these documents are due at the end of October, and are both important in driving future discussions on a Tasmanian trial. Pill testing continues to be a subject of great interest, and a large amount of misinformation and misunderstanding continues to persist. I look forward to addressing these concerns and continuing to raise awareness of how pill testing works at a number of community discussions over the coming weeks.
In closing, I look forward to seeing some of you at the range of events and activities scheduled for the remainder of this year. This includes the APSAD conference (congratulations again to the ATDC’s Dr Jackie Hallam for her stellar effort bringing this conference together in her role as conference co-convenor), Mental Health First Aid: Engaging Leaders to be held on the 26 and 27 November the ATDC and the final regional area member meetings to be held state-wide on the 3 and 4 December.
Alison Lai
Chief Executive Officer
