Springvale's Needle Backlash Is Every Victorian Suburb's Warning
Family First Party
Jane Foreman - Family First Legislative Council Candidate
Key Facts:
KEY FACTS:
·Springvale: traders, a shopping centre manager, real estate agents and community leaders petitioned this month to relocate the Buckingham Avenue needle and syringe site, sited opposite a primary school, after Monash Health moved its 24/7 vending machine just 20 metres in response to a year of complaints.
·A Star Journal reader poll (12 July 2026) found 90 per cent of respondents want Springvale's needle and syringe service moved out of the area altogether, with 5 per cent favouring a different Springvale location and 5 per cent favouring retention with more outreach and cleanup services.
·The Age (28 June 2026): black-market peptide and steroid use is driving unprecedented demand at Victoria's needle and syringe services, with peptide and steroid users making up as much as 40 per cent of clients at some services.
·Salvation Army needle and syringe services alone distributed more than 683,000 needles and syringes between January and May 2026, an increase of around 185,000 on the same period the previous year.
·Traders near North Richmond's supervised injecting facility have reported profits down by around 30 per cent; an independent review found the facility had saved lives but did not resolve residents' amenity and safety concerns.
·Family First's drug policy: enforce the laws on drug supply and possession; keep Australia free of illicit drugs; divert people to programs that get them free of addiction; weight youth justice towards compulsory rehabilitation over prison for first offences; close drug injecting centres.
·Victorians go to the polls in November, with Family First seeking to elect its first members to the Legislative Council.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
21 July 2026
Springvale's Needle Backlash Is Every Victorian Suburb's Warning
Springvale traders fighting to relocate their needle and syringe site are living the consequences of a statewide program that keeps handing out equipment with no plan to get people off drugs, Family First says
In Springvale, a shopping centre manager, business owners, real estate agents and community leaders have this month petitioned to relocate the Buckingham Avenue needle and syringe site, positioned opposite a primary school. Monash Health's response, after a year of complaints, was to move its 24/7 syringe vending machine just 20 metres to the side of the building. A Star Journal reader poll last week found 90 per cent of respondents want the service moved out of Springvale altogether.
“Springvale traders, real estate agents, a primary school community and their own councillor are all saying the same thing, and this government still can't manage more than a twenty-metre shuffle. That's not a solution — it's an insult.”
Family First Victorian Upper House candidate Jane Foreman said Springvale is not an isolated case — it is a snapshot of a statewide program that is expanding faster than the government's ability, or willingness, to manage its consequences. The Age revealed on 28 June that a black-market surge in illegal peptide and steroid use is pushing needle and syringe services across Victoria to breaking point, with peptide and steroid users now making up as much as 40 per cent of clients at some services. Salvation Army services alone distributed over 683,000 needles and syringes between January and May this year, up around 185,000 on the same period last year.
“A drug is a drug, whether it's heroin, ice or a black-market peptide bought online. Springvale is what happens everywhere this program runs without enforcement or a recovery plan behind it — and the same pattern is playing out in pockets right across Victoria.”
This pattern has played out for years in North Richmond, where traders near the state's only supervised injecting facility have reported profits down by around 30 per cent, and where an official review found the service did not resolve residents' amenity and safety concerns. Family First says that record shows the program itself does not offer Victorians a clear solution: handing out more needles, or shuffling a dispensing machine a few metres, is not a plan to get anyone off drugs — it is a government managing the symptoms of its own drug crisis while communities carry the cost.
Ms Foreman said Victoria needs enforcement and recovery, not an ever-expanding harm-reduction model that leaves communities to manage the fallout. Family First's drug policy is clear: enforce the laws on drug supply and possession; never give up the fight to keep Australia free of illicit drugs; divert people to programs that actually get them free of addiction; weight the justice system for young people towards compulsory rehabilitation rather than prison for first offences; and close drug injecting centres.
“Victoria doesn't need more needles handed out with no plan to get people off drugs — it needs enforcement, it needs rehabilitation, and it needs the injecting centre model closed down in favour of real recovery. Family First has called for this for years, and Springvale shows exactly why it's more urgent today than ever.”
Victorians go to the polls in November. Ms Foreman said Family First would keep pressing for a fully funded, measurable drug strategy that treats communities like Springvale as more than collateral damage.
— ENDS —
About us:
About Family First
Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
