Launching the 1800 55 23 55 number in St Kilda, Health Minister John Thwaites said the Help-line would help make our streets safer.

The Help-line is part of a 10-point safe needle disposal strategy which includes providing more safe disposal bins at chemists and public places and promoting user-responsibility for needles and syringes.

‘The new Help-line will give free advice on the safe disposal of syringes and will also be linked to local needle retrieval services,’ Mr Thwaites said.

‘Needle retrieval services are available in most Melbourne metropolitan areas and will soon be available in Geelong and Bendigo and then across Victoria.

‘Government-funded needle and syringe programs already have retrieval services and the Help-line will make it easier for people to get access to these services.

‘The Bracks Government is determined to make our streets and beaches safer for families and children,’ Mr Thwaites said.

‘The initiative will receive funding of $400,000 in the short term and ongoing funding of $200,000 per year.

‘Also, $250,000 has been allocated to partnerships between local councils and needle and syringe programs to improve disposal and retrieval services,’ he said.

‘The Bracks Government recognises that there is more than one solution to the drug problem. Inappropriate disposal of syringes is a problem for all of us and we need to fight it together.’

Mr Thwaites said the policy of making syringes widely available had been extremely successful in containing the spread of HIV and hepatitis C.

Other measures in the strategy include:

• Working with local councils to link disposal services to the hot-line and improve strategies for cleaning-up syringe litter;

• Promoting safe disposal at pharmacies and providing disposal containers at chemists and in more public places;

• Investigating and promoting successful strategies by Needle and Syringe Programs;

• Funding joint projects between local councils and Needle and Syringe Programs to improve retrieval and disposal;

• Funding research into ways of improving surveillance and disposal;

• Promoting user responsibility for needle and syringes;

• Working with Victoria Police to address concerns about their safety in dealing with drug users;

• Improving community understanding of the low risk of infection from discarded needles and safe handling and disposal techniques;

• Establishing a disposal monitoring group for improving disposal and retrieval of injecting equipment.