Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hughes for moving this motion as illicit drug use is a very important issue in our contemporary times. Before being elected as the member for Herbert in the 2016 federal election I worked for 15 years in the community and mental health sector working across north and western Queensland from Palm Island to Mount Isa, where I saw firsthand the devastating impact of illicit drugs on individuals, families, emergency services and communities. The reality is that the management and control of illicit drugs in communities requires more than a law and order solution. Addressing the issue of illicit drugs also requires a social and health solution. Illicit drugs have a huge emotional and financial impact on the health of the drug user themselves, their families and their communities. The use of illicit drugs has had an extremely negative impact on my electorate of Herbert, where youth crime has been a major issue which has often involved desperate young drug users.

I acknowledge the difficult and hard work carried out by Australia's law enforcement agencies in tackling illicit drugs. This motion has revealed that, in the previous two years, our agencies detected, intercepted and prevented more than 12.5 tonnes of narcotics from entering our community. In fact, last month, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force seized 540 kilograms of methamphetamine in Sydney. This was one of the 10 largest drug hauls in our country's history and stopped an estimated $324 million worth of drugs from entering the Australian market. These are significant achievements and are a testament to the commitment and hard work of our law enforcement officers.

However, despite successful interceptions, our agencies are fighting an uphill battle as Australia's drug problem is getting worse and worse. This year's National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report found that methamphetamine levels have been consistently increasing and are currently at historic highs. Increasingly, the highest methamphetamine levels were in fact in the Minister for Justice's home state of Western Australia. The Crime and Corruption Commission's Illicit drug markets in Queensland: 2015–16 intelligence assessment has stated:

The demand for illicit drugs and the huge profits to be made from supplying them in Queensland, particularly in regional areas, has made Queensland an attractive market for interstate and internationally based crime groups to expand their criminal activities. Our previous assessment of illicit drug markets conducted in 2012 identified that organised crime groups were starting to establish themselves in areas previously unaffected by traditional drug supply chains. Since 2012 there has been greater targeting of regional areas such as Toowoomba, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Townsville and Cairns, particularly by interstate-based crime groups.

Methylamphetamine continues to be rated as the illicit drug market that poses the highest level of risk (Very High)—due to the high level of organised crime involvement and the significant harms the drug causes to individual users and the community. The main change in this market since 2012 has been a shift in the form of methylamphetamine, with increased supply and demand for high purity crystal ("ice") rather than powder, and an increase in imported final product compared with locally produced methylamphetamine.

But these are not just figures. There is a human cost to every shipment of ice: every criminal syndicate that gets their hands on a source of revenue and every addict that easily gets another hit. In my community I have seen an illicit drug user released on parole, and within a matter of days he had murdered an elderly woman in her home in a bungled home invasion. On 5 April 2017, the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, the Shadow Minister for Justice, Clare O'Neil, and myself conducted an ice forum where we talked with ambulance officers and policemen and women who are often put in situations where they have no idea how offenders will react upon engaging with them either on the streets or in their homes. The violence towards first responders is simply unacceptable. Clearly, we need to do more.

On 8 May this year the Prime Minister and the Minster for Justice announced an additional $321 million in funding for the AFP and an extra 300 AFP personnel. Sadly, in the 2017-18 budget we saw that despite this announcement the AFP is actually losing funding and staff. Next year the AFP budget will be cut and they will lose over 150 staff. Again, instead of supporting law enforcement and intelligence organisations, this government is cutting funding to important bodies. Illicit drugs are having a significant impact on our communities from crime, domestic violence and health perspectives. This government must fully fund agencies and organisations to address this serious issue because not to do so is a failure that will simply have a negative impact. (Time expired)

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