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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2765 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

What the Prime Minister has suddenly realised is that in Australia people do not see him as a leader. They see him as pathetic. It is a great shame, because in his very early days as Prime Minister he was a person who took on the gun lobby and said, "We are going to deal with guns; we are going to get an approach across Australia". He showed real leadership, and nobody can take that from him. One of the things that I am proud of, and I know Mr Humphries is dearly proud of, is that the ACT was able to lead the way in delivering on the direction that the Prime Minister had taken. But on this issue he has taken the easy way out. If he thinks that a task force of a few tame public servants is going to come up with any results, he has another think coming.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would love to be found to be wrong on this issue. I would love to see the task force come up with ideas - maybe ideas completely different from mine - that would move us ahead in terms of dealing with this incredible scourge of the use of illicit drugs in our community. But he would have to make it public so that we can see what his advice is. How are these senior public servants going to do this if they do not listen to what the community is saying about the issue? Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think it is an absolute disaster that that kind of approach has been taken. On the other hand, I think that the national drug strategy, with the six principles underpinning it, is very important. That first principle is a commitment to harm minimisation.

What is lacking in this future direction strategy is the goal of undermining the black market in illicit drugs. Until we grasp that reality, until we grasp the notion undermining the illicit drug trade, this scourge will be with our community in a way that will grow and grow, because that is the way the marketing system is designed. Just as the sales of detergents, saucepans, make-up and cosmetics grow and grow under a similar network marketing scheme, this one will grow; but it will grow more strongly because the motivation is not just about money, although that is one of the major motivations. There is an additional motivation. People who are dependent upon a drug also know that they do not have to go out and do burglaries, they do not have to do prostitution, and they do not have to participate in fraud or any of those other things if they can just get a handful of other people to buy their drug of choice. That is what makes it so insidious. Until we find a way to wrestle with that, to understand that, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, the situation will get worse and worse and more and more young people will die.

Although there are differences of opinion as to the way we should operate under these sorts of strategies, it is quite clear that a wide range of approaches needs to be taken to look at whatever possibilities we can. They start at rehabilitation, and they go across to broader issues such as the heroin trial. I urge members and this Minister to continue pushing for the broadest possible range of treatments and methods.

MR BERRY (Leader of the Opposition) (4.32): Today I announced a new policy for the Labor Party in the sense that what we want to see is a change in direction in relation to heroin in particular. In the context of this debate and the ministerial statement about the ACT drug strategy, it is most appropriate for me to say a few words, although I am not going to go on with a long and tedious speech, because I do not think it advances the issue much.

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