Indigenous, queer and culturally and linguistically diverse groups have hit out at a landmark drug summit for being disrespectful and not inclusive.
The four-day forum, a cornerstone in rewriting the drug laws and policies affecting three in 10 Australians, ended with individuals in group sessions voting on priority areas to reduce drug-related harms.
But instead of reporting back to the summit on the priorities, key community leaders took to the stage to criticise the NSW government on the organisation of the event.
University of Sydney Associate Professor Michael Doyle said Indigenous perspectives were not heard or understood at the summit.
A day earlier, he'd appeared on the same stage after being called up during the middle of a panel discussion after organisers realised they were lacking an Indigenous voice.
"We feel that we haven't been included in the way we should have been in this summit," Dr Doyle said.
"We feel it wasn't done in a way where we felt safe to express what we wanted to express."
A similar view was echoed by the manager of the only specialised multicultural alcohol and other drug service in NSW.
"We genuinely felt quite unhappy and felt at times that we were the last thought," Odyssey House's Teguh Syahbahar said.
Trans person Felicity felt proposed priority areas were "sanitised" and seen through a lens of "how will society be able to take it?"
"(But) my life isn't palatable, my existence isn't palatable, it doesn't need to be - I don't stand here trying to be accepted by the (cisgender) community," they said.
NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said the chairs, who are set to hand down a report in 2025, will do their best to reflect the views of the summit.
"Summit organisers have been tasked with reconciling and effectively summarising the diverse range of contributions - often diametrically opposed views - of some 500 participants and 3600 written submissions," he said in a statement.
"We are grateful for the diversity of views expressed - it has enhanced the summit."
Earlier, the head of the nation's biggest probe into methamphetamine challenged the NSW government to go to the next election with a plan to decriminalise illicit drugs.
"We have a golden moment in time ... if we miss it we won't see it for many years," former ice inquiry commissioner Dan Howard told delegates.
"If we fail to do this now, our drug users will continue to be stigmatised and inappropriately harmed by the same old tired law and order stuff that hasn't worked."
Professor Howard pointed to the ACT, where even police have acknowledged that the 2023 decriminalisation of small-scale drug possession has had positive outcomes.
"Bite the bullet and announce that you will be going to the next election with the proposal to decriminalise," Mr Howard said.
Premier Chris Minns and his health minister have repeatedly rejected decriminalisation - a key theme of the summit - on the grounds they lack a mandate.
Crossbenchers and powerful health unions on Thursday teamed up to push for a stronger response to drug-related harms, including mandatory diversion programs for people caught with small substance quantities and a pill-testing regime.
"We cannot wait for more reports, reviews and delayed government responses when we know we could be saving lives now," their statement said.
The four-day summit, which included sessions in Sydney and regional NSW, has been pitched as an attempt to find broad consensus for the next decade of drug policy.
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