In a move that is likely to popular with some, South Australia’s Liberal Party has proposed mandatory random drug testing for all members of state parliament.
According to an article on 9news.com.au, the idea was raised by Amanda Wilson, the party’s candidate for the seat of Black for the by-election held on Saturday – which was lost by the Liberal Party. Ms Wilson believes that random drug testing for South Australia politicians can help rebuild public confidence in elected officials.
“When I was out door-knocking, a tradie said to be me it was unfair that tradies had to be drug tested randomly and politicians didn’t,” Ms Wilson said in the article.
The proposal has the backing of state Liberal leader Vincent Tarzia who said he’s happy for anyone to swab him before he goes into parliament.
While he said it has crossed his mind, Premier Peter Malinauskas has expressed scepticism at the proposal.
So, what do you think? Do you believe our politicians – in South Australia and indeed across the nation – should face drug testing?
As we intimated in the introduction, many people are likely to agree although it does go against the general philosophy around drug testing in workplaces in Australia. That is, drug testing is only conducted when there’s a valid safety reason to do so.
This would make drug testing of South Australia tradies acceptable, as well as construction workers, transport operators, council workers who operate machinery and do manual roles, and others in safety-sensitive roles. Politicians who represent people, create laws, manage public policies, make decisions to address societal issues and push paper around their desks, less so!
South Australian woman fails alcohol testing
The headline might not be dramatic but the detail is. That’s because the South Australian woman in question has allegedly blown almost seven times over the legal limit.
According to yahoo!news, the incident occurred in Adelaide two weeks ago, when South Australia Police were called to a car that had stopped in the middle of the road. Police conducted alcohol testing on the driver and they allege she recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.339.
As most people are aware, the legal blood alcohol limit in South Australia is 0.05 per cent. That means the alcohol testing result was nearly seven times the legal limit, making it one of the highest readings recorded.
The driver’s licence was suspended and her car was towed away. The vehicle will remain impounded for one month.
As we have highlighted in previous posts, including a post in August which followed an alcohol testing reading of 0.443 for a driver in the ACT, things start becoming potentially serious when readings get above 0.25 blood alcohol level. That’s the point where many people will pass out. Of course, the seriousness can grow as the blood alcohol level rises and at 0.35 most people are likely to be in a coma.
How anyone could drive a car at 0.339 or 0.443 is an interesting question and the likely answer is individual factors and particularly tolerance to alcohol. How anyone could drive a car at those levels without killing themselves or someone else is probably a miracle.
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South Australia’s Liberal Party has proposed mandatory random drug testing for all members of state parliament, in a proposal that’s likely to win the popular vote. Credit eGuide Travel https://www.flickr.com/photos/eguidetravel/5393724757/ (image modified).
