Yarra City Council continues to change its position on the North Richmond Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR), opposing the installation of a potentially lifesaving naloxone dispenser on Victoria Street.

The State Government is implementing a trial of 20 free naloxone dispensers across Victoria, with ten in regional Victoria and ten in metropolitan Melbourne, one of which will be in the City of Yarra.

In a letter to Health Minister Ingrid Stitt, Yarra mayor Stephen Jolly expressed support for the trial but asked for the dispenser to be located away from Victoria Street, citing a “cumulative impact” on “safety in the area”.

Jolly told The Age that he would support putting the dispenser elsewhere in Yarra, such as adjacent to the MSIR or near St Vincent’s Hospital in Fitzroy, but not along Victoria Street.

Yarra Council withdrew its support for the MSIR in 2025, with Jolly stating that it should be moved, despite his support in previous years.

The deputy mayor Sharon Harrison told Nine that “there needs to be more [injecting rooms] so that Richmond is not carrying the weight of the entire load,” but in light of the Yarra Council vote, the City of Melbourne also voted to withdraw support for a potential MSIR in the CBD. The City of Melbourne now has the highest heroin overdose rate in Victoria.

Controversy around the MSIR’s location has persisted since its establishment in 2018; it is a part of North Richmond Community Health Centre, which is between a primary school and public housing towers.

The community is polarised about this issue, with some vocally against it, including a Facebook group “MOVE THE INJECTING ROOM” with over 2,700 members, and others believing it has reduced public injecting and syringes on the streets.

Yarra Drug and Health Forum executive officer Amanda Stone, a former Greens councillor, told The Age that polarised views have made community engagement difficult.

Residents have compared the MSIR vicinity to Skid Row in Los Angeles, notorious for homelessness. One local told the ABC in 2023 that North Richmond had become a “ghetto, because there’s drug dealers sitting outside all day.”

Vacancy rates on Victoria Street are only increasing, and ten shops were firebombed in July, causing significant damage. Stephen Jolly suggested that adding the naloxone dispenser would be a “kick in the teeth” for traders.

Monash University and Turning Point analysis showed that heroin-related ambulance callouts reduced by 70 per cent in the first five years of the MSIR’s operations. It has also managed thousands of overdoses with no deaths on site, and a 2023 review suggested it had prevented up to 63 deaths.

State Greens MP for Richmond Gabrielle de Vietri compared naloxone to defibrillators, saying that “this is NIMBYism at its most dangerous.” Greens Councillors Sophie Wade and Edward Crosslands opposed the Council motion to withdraw MSIR support in 2025.

The MSIR is a controversial issue in North Richmond; the clear evidence that it has saved lives has failed to quell concerns from local traders and some residents, while others are in strong support.

Yarra Council’s policy changes are unlikely to be effective in lowering the temperature of debate on this issue.

Image source: The Age / Ruby Alexander