Ann Bressington
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Ann Marie Bressington (born 12 September 1955) is an
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...
politician. She was elected to the
South Australian Legislative Council The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly. It sits in Parli ...
at the 2006 South Australian election as
Nick Xenophon Nick Xenophon ( Nicholas Xenophou; born 29 January 1959) is an Australian politician and lawyer who was a Senator for South Australia from 2008 to 2017. He was the leader of two political parties: Nick Xenophon Team federally, and Nick Xenophon ...
's running mate on his
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No Pokies No Pokies was an independent South Australian Legislative Council ticket that ran upper house candidates at the 1997, 2002 and 2006 state elections. Poker machines or "pokies" are the Australian version of slot machines. It was replaced by the Nic ...
ticket. Her election was a surprise as it was not expected that two people on the ticket would be elected.


Political career

Bressington was the Founder and CEO of DrugBeat South Australia, a drug treatment and rehabilitation centre. DrugBeat was founded after the 1998 death of her 22-year-old daughter, Shay-Louise, from a
heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...
overdose two days before moving to Adelaide for treatment. Bressington resigned from DrugBeat following her election to the Legislative Council, in order to avoid any potential conflict of interest over DrugBeat funding. After her election to the South Australian Legislative Council, in early 2006, Bressington introduced legislation to State Parliament that would make the sale of "drug taking equipment" illegal, Definitions of drug-using paraphernalia (
pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...
,
bong A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right. ...
s,
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and
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
kits) were prescribed in her bill. It was subsequently reintroduced in 2008 and, receiving majority support in both the Legislative Council and the
House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...
, was enacted shortly after. In August 2006, Bressington announced that she would introduce a bill into Parliament which, if passed, would enforce random twice-annual
drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of drug ...
s of every South Australian school student from Year 8 to Year 12. The draft was amended after a consultation process involving students, parents, teachers and other politicians. When introducing her bill, Bressington warned parents to "watch closely who opposes the measure ... it will be an indication of who is soft on drugs". Dr David Caldicott, a
toxicologist Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...
and research fellow of the
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's Emergency and Trauma Department, slammed the proposed bill as "ludicrous" and the South Australian branch of the
Australian Education Union The Australian Education Union (AEU) is an Australian trade union, founded in 1984 as the Australian Teachers Union, which is registered with Fair Work Australia as an employee group, and is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Union ...
stated its opposition to the bill. However, Bressington claimed the response from parents has been "overwhelmingly positive and supportive". The bill was not passed. On 30 August 2006, Bressington discussed the possibility of introducing a bill to raise the legal drinking age in South Australia from 18 to 21. That bill has not been introduced. After Xenophon resigned from state parliament to pursue election federal parliament, Bressington lashed out at him during the
joint sitting A joint session or joint convention is, most broadly, when two normally separate decision-making groups meet, often in a special session or other extraordinary meeting, for a specific purpose. Most often it refers to when both houses of a bicame ...
to appoint his replacement, questioning his integrity and suitability for federal parliament. Bressington claimed Xenophon demanded she contribute $50,000 towards his campaign expenses (for which Bressington had to take out a loan) and had mismanaged campaign funds. She implied that he had made requests to State Treasury for illegal funding and said that he ignored her once she entered parliament. Xenophon denied the claims. Bressington also questioned why Xenophon had avoided the media scrutiny that other politicians are subjected to, alleging that many of his core 'anti-politician' promises warranted further investigation. In October 2013, Bressington announced that she would be sponsoring the registration of
Katter's Australian Party Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian political party in Australia. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Co ...
for the 2014 state election, at which it received a 0.1 percent upper house vote. Bressington did not re-contest her seat at the 2014 state election.2014 SA election, upper house: Tally Room


See also

* Parnell-Bressington filibuster


References


External links


Australian Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Program Inc - DrugBeat of South Australia Program
*

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060820204331/http://www.ancd.org.au/about/members/bressington.htm ''Background information on Ann Bressington'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bressington, Ann 1955 births Living people Independent members of the Parliament of South Australia Members of the South Australian Legislative Council Katter's Australian Party politicians 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the South Australian Legislative Council