Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Evans for the supplementary. He would no doubt be aware that the United Kingdom is the lead agency in the G8 approach to this matter. It is a very serious matter and there is no trivialising of it, from the government’s perspective. We will continue to work very actively in relation to these matters in the forums where we can. It is a matter where there obviously needs to be some real cooperation, not only regionally but more broadly, in order to get the best possible solution and to try and have an effective way of dealing with narcotics in Afghanistan.