“We will hold him to account”: Ambulance Union boss stands by Matthew Guy tweet
The boss of the Ambulance Union is standing by a tweet aimed at Matthew Guy.
The State Opposition Leader has vowed to shut the safe injecting facility in Richmond if elected on Saturday.
This prompted union leader Danny Hill to tweet that paramedics would “hold him to account” for the consequences.
Mr Hill told Neil Mitchell people will die if the facility closed.
“It will lead to deaths of patients, without question,” Mr Hill said on Thursday.
“It’s the equivalent of shutting down a ward in a hospital.
“To shut it would be based on absolutely no medical evidence whatsoever.”
If @MatthewGuyMP shuts the lifesaving injecting facility in Richmond, the Ambulance Union will hold him to account for every death in the gutter, every overdose in a playground and every assault on our members that occurs as a result. #springst #vicvotes #vicvotes2018
— Danny Hill (@DannyHillAEAVIC) November 21, 2018
Mr Hill said paramedics have been called to “about five” heroin overdoses in the area since the facility opened in July.
“Previously, it was about five per day,” he said.
Neil said he has a degree of cynicism about the statement given the Paramedic Union’s affiliation with the Labor Party, but Mr Hill said the statement was not politically partisan.
“If Labor attempted to shut it, we’d be having the same argument. We’d be holding any government to account who shut this centre,” he said.
Click PLAY for the full interview with Danny Hill
But local business owner Trevor McGinley has a different view of the facility.
Trevor told Neil he feels less safe since it opened.
“My daughter locks herself in the office when I’m not there. That’s just not acceptable in this day and age,” he said.
Trevor said police have told him they aren’t supposed to go near the facility.
“They said the police have been told the injecting centre is a no-go zone,” he said.
“They can’t go anywhere closer to it than we are.”
Click PLAY to hear Trevor’s story
Photo: Tracey Nearmy / AAP