Two dominant issues came to the fore during Victoria's inquiry into workplace drug testing: the absence of a reliable impairment test, and the potential for unlawful discrimination against medicinal cannabis patients.
The two-day hearing drew testimony from unions, police, researchers, and industry bodies, with the proceedings intended to inform possible legislative reform down the track.
A report from the Legislative Council's Legal and Social Issues Committee, chaired by Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank, is due to be submitted in August.
Ettershank said the inquiry produced some "very useful material" that will feed into the committee's conclusions.
"It gave an opportunity to flesh out a lot of the issues that we had in mind when we first moved the motion to get this inquiry up," he said. "It was a good discussion and it didn't break down on party lines. There was a genuine desire to get into the issues."
The motion to establish the inquiry received cross-party backing last August.
On the question of impairment versus mere THC presence, the Lambert Initiative noted that no reliable impairment test currently exists — a gap that has long complicated efforts to reform drug-driving legislation.
The research body advised employers that the best available approach at present is to combine the Druid app, which assesses cognitive function, with an oral fluid THC test.
"The use of point-of-collection devices to perform random oral fluid tests for THC at a specified cutoff (e.g. 10mg/ml), while clearly not perfect, can provide an additional layer of security against impairment in employees," Lambert said. "This could be coupled to the use of rapid smartphone app-based tests of impairment that can be used to build historical data around psychomotor and cognitive performance in employees."
The organisation also noted it was "clear that some employers are using unnecessarily harsh approaches".
Montu also gave evidence at the inquiry. Government relations manager Matthew McCrone, appearing on behalf of the company and Australia's newest cannabis association, Cannabis Council Australia, said there must be "fairness and natural justice for medical cannabis patients".
"While Montu supports the current legal requirements for workplace strategies to protect employees in safety-critical roles, we are of the view that the current framework is unsatisfactory," he said. "The scope of substances included in workplace screening, along with the approach of testing for mere presence – rather than impairment – is discriminatory, and needs to be updated."
He added: "We hear every day from people who are severely impacted by this legislation, such as patients unable to maintain full-time employment as they do not feel able to go without their pain medication, and others who simply live in fear of being randomly tested at work, despite holding non-safety critical roles."
Once the committee's report is finalised, the state government will have six months to respond to its recommendations.
