Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I thank him for his very strong interest in national security and law enforcement matters over a particularly long period of time. The coalition government absolutely understand that keeping our community safe is about much more than successfully navigating a pandemic. There are many other health concerns, and there are many other threats to safety. For example, if we look at shipments of drugs, any shipments that we can actually stop coming into this country means that lives are saved and fewer families are subject to the horrendous impacts of drug use.

The important point here is that we are making significant progress. In the second half of last year alone there were more than 9,300 kilograms of illicit drugs that were stopped from reaching Australian streets. This includes over 2½ thousand kilograms of methamphetamine and 620kg of heroin. It's very sad that one death in the Australian community takes place for approximately every two kilograms of heroin that hits our street. On just heroin alone, around 310 lives have been saved in about six months just by seizing it and keeping it away from our communities. That's why the coalition has never been and will never be soft on illicit drugs or the criminals that traffic them. Whether it's detecting drugs in the border, whether it's stopping them from entering into our country, whether it's refusing or cancelling the visas of organised crime figures, this government, the Morrison government, is always going to back our law enforcement agencies, and we are going to maintain the integrity of our borders.

I was asked about alternatives. What we've seen from those opposite is that they have previously voted against the strengthening the character test bill. That is designed—

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