Qld government: ‘Alarming’ pre-Schoolies pill testing ban drives former public servant to speak out

The senior public servant who oversaw the introduction of Australia’s first pill testing programs has described the Crisafulli government’s unwinding of Queensland’s fledgling scheme as “absolutely staggering”.

Michael De’Ath, a former ACT Health and Queensland Education department head, has spoken publicly for the first time after the recently legislated ban.

“It’s particularly alarming as we head into something like schoolies,” De’Ath said in an interview with this masthead.

Despite flagging its opposition to the former government’s drug reforms before last year’s state election , the LNP allowed already contracted pill testing services to operate at the official 2024 schoolies event on the Gold Coast the following month.

Since then, it has stripped funding from the sector and b