George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, I am indebted to you for raising that important issue, and I acknowledge that you take a very serious and, if I may say so, passionate interest in it. So let me tell you what the Australian government is doing. In December 2015, led by the Commonwealth, the Council of Australian Governments developed a National Ice Action Strategy whereby all Australian governments and their communities agreed to work together to tackle the vice and the problem of this drug. Proportionally, Australians use more methamphetamine, including ice, than almost any other country, so we have made significant investments in policing our borders and our streets to combat the supply of ice, including significant arrests and seizures of ice both by the Australian Federal Police and state and territory police and at our borders. For example, we have invested $18 million from the proceeds of crime account, money taken from criminals, to enhance the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's intelligence sharing with state, territory and international partners to stop the supply of ice at its source.

We cannot, however, just arrest our way out of this problem. To break the drug dealers' business model, we have to smash demand for this drug. That is why, in response to the National Ice Taskforce report, which this government commissioned, we announced a $300 million plan to combat the scourge of ice in communities across the country.