A new naloxone vending machine trial in North Richmond, Melbourne, has sparked a dispute between local council leaders and the Victorian Government over how to tackle the area's opioid crisis. The machine, part of a A$95 million state harm-reduction scheme, is intended to give drug users fast access to a medication that reverses opioid overdoses, but Yarra Mayor Stephen Jolly has formally objected to its planned location on Victoria Street, arguing it would add to problems already caused by a nearby supervised injecting room.

The government announced the naloxone dispenser trial in June, with machines also planned for Brimbank, Sunshine, Darebin, Shepparton, Ballarat and Mildura. Jolly wrote to Health Minister Ingrid Stitt warning that Victoria Street, close to the state's only supervised injecting room and a primary school, has already seen rising public drug use and crime, and said residents and traders deserved more consultation. Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri rejected this as dangerous "NIMBY-ism", insisting harm-reduction measures should be guided by evidence rather than political pressure, while Jolly maintained he supports the machines in principle but believes Richmond should not bear a disproportionate share of the city's drug-related burden.