Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General. According to the Australian Crime Commission, organised crime costs Australians $36 billion every year. That includes organised fraud and drug and human trafficking. In fact, drug trafficking accounts for $4.4 billion of that cost. But it is the human cost that concerns me, and it cannot be quantified. Ice use in Australia has almost doubled, and instead of smuggling across Australia's borders organised crime groups are now cooking up within Australia. We know that because ice manufacturers are shipping twice as many ingredients from China as they were two years ago. Regional Australia is particularly feeling the effects of increased ice use, using twice as much as the metropolitan users, whether that is because of fewer health and community services, higher rates of mental illness or convenience for organised crime groups. It is a problem, and it is getting worse. What is the government doing about dealing with organised crime at a federal level as it applies to drug trafficking?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Link to 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.

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, yeah. Have you rolled that out yet? That'd be great.

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

Well, let me tell you, Senator Lambie. I am going to give you the details if I may: $241.5 million to be invested through 31 Primary Health Networks, which will use their local knowledge to boost the alcohol and other drug treatment sector and reduce demand for ice; $13 million to introduce— (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, a supplementary question.

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say again that ice use in this country has doubled. I know Campbell Newman's vicious and lawless association disestablishment laws, also known as VLAD laws, worked because, when they were in operation, organised crime groups were pushed south to Tasmania and then over to Western Australia, where the organised crime laws are lax. Why haven't you considered implementing Campbell Newman's VLAD laws federally, with tweaking, to ensure a unified approach nationally?

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

Senator Lambie, in fact can I tell you about Campbell Newman's VLAD laws, that being an acronym for vicious lawless association disestablishment laws. Before former Premier Newman introduced those laws, he actually discussed them with me, so I was involved from the inception with the preparation of those laws.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is that why they're unconstitutional?

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

I will take your interjection, Senator. They were actually challenged in the High Court, and their constitutional validity was upheld. So, before you make your interjections, Senator Watt, you should familiarise yourself with the facts.

Getting back to your more serious question, Senator Lambie, this is something that the Australian government, through the ministerial council on law, crime and community safety, has examined and is cooperating with the states and territories on in order to address the issue of lawless bikie gangs, who are, of course, as you know, conveyors and traffickers of ice and other drugs. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Lambie, a final supplementary question.

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What is the government position on using mandatory minimum sentencing similar to that which is contained in the Migration Act 1958 in smuggling offences in relation to those convicted of organised crime offences?

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

Jurisdiction in relation to organised crime is primarily jurisdiction that exists at the state level, and, in various of the states and territories, there are mandatory minimum sentences for certain categories of organised crime. I am not in a position to tell you specifically in each state and territory what those particular offences are, but it is the case that in various states and territories of the organised crime or certain categories of organised crime do attract mandatory minimum sentences. The Commonwealth supports the initiatives of state and territory parliaments to crack down on organised crime through all the measures those parliaments take, including those you have mentioned.