Page 2296 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2022
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increasing number of people criminally sanctioned—some with prison terms—for drug use.
In 2019, among the convictions under the Drug Law … drug use was the second most common … behind drug dealing …
In short, Portugal, members, does not prove what you think it does.
These laws that are before us today will result in problems arriving in Canberra that are not dissimilar to those we have seen in America. In the last two years, in San Francisco, we have seen more than 1,360 drug overdose fatalities—more than double the number of COVID-19 deaths for the same period. As one commentator states:
San Francisco will remain only as a lesson to policymakers on what to not do.
That is certainly not the Canberra that I want to see. As I have said before, and repeatedly, of course, there is a significant health aspect to what we are talking about today with regard to drug policy, but there are also social and criminal aspects to this. In the words of the AFP Commissioner, these laws will make for “a far more dangerous environment” for police and lead to “a more dangerous society” in Canberra.
The Australian Federal Police Association, who represent those on the front line of dealing with this as an issue, have said they are “dismayed” by the continual push to decriminalise hard drugs. They said:
The government may as well write a cheque for organised crime and roll out the welcome mat.
That is what the Federal Police Association have said. I repeat:
The government may as well write a cheque for organised crime and roll out the welcome mat.
It is true that drug dealers across Australia will be licking their lips, particularly if they get the Greens version of this legislation. Meth and heroin addicts across Australia, many of whom fund their habit from crime, will be booking bus tickets to Canberra if these laws are passed. When it comes to heroin and meth, the reality is that availability is the mother of usage. This legislation, by doing what it does, will see more drugs and more addicts on our streets; and, consequently, more crime and more road deaths.
Therefore, what you will actually see, Mr Deputy Speaker, is more people with addictions, more drug users, facing courts, not fewer people. That is one of the baseless arguments that has been used for these laws to change, but the evidence to the committee inquiry showed that people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs currently are not jailed. They do not face prosecution. They only face prosecution for drug offences when they are arrested and charged for crimes such as armed robbery. But the current suite of laws allow police effectively to divert people to treatment. It is working, and the police have said that. I heard the Chief Police Officer talk about the 192 people that have been referred by police to treatment in recent times because the
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