Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The north-west coast, west coast and King Island, which make up the seat of Braddon, are best known for their produce, both agricultural and industrial, and also for their stunning landscapes. It was humbling for me in my first speech to highlight this, when I said:

… Braddon is right up there with the most unique and beautiful parts of our country. We are makers. We are makers of whiskey, underground mining equipment, magnificent cheese, truffles, leatherwood honey, the freshest and best of vegetables, the biggest and highest-jumping salmon, octopus, quality milk products sought by a growing Asian population—and the list goes on and on. Braddon—

I said—

charmingly punches well above its weight.

This week, however, national media attention has been focused on our region—and on my electorate, particularly—for all the wrong reasons. On Tuesday evening, the ABC television programs Four Corners and later Latelineaired feature investigations into the use of ice—methamphetamine—in regional Australia. Sadly, the focus of these programs was the north-west coast of Tasmania. This is the second time in recent months that mainland media has singled out the north-west coast to highlight social difficulties that are prevalent not only on the north-west coast of Tasmania but in all cities—major metropolitan cities and regional cities alike.

I am acutely aware of the scourge of drugs. Like other members of parliament from around the country, I am in regular contact with parents, educators and employers who have in some way been affected by drugs. They tell me of lost opportunities—of children who have failed to finish their schooling, setting themselves up for a lifetime on the dole; of colleagues who have ruined their careers and social relationships; and, most worryingly, of parents who are setting a disastrous example to their children that is no less destructive than child abuse.

Of all the illegal drugs accessed on the street today, ice is the most terrifying. Physically, the drug can result in young people looking like old men and women within months, while mentally it can lead users to commit horrific crimes based on delusion.

Scrupulously, criminal organisations, including bikie gangs, after saturating the city markets for this drug, have moved into the regional areas with low crime rates and, therefore, a low police presence. It is quite easy from here to join the dots.

Like other regional areas facing this problem throughout Australia, the north-west coast community is banding together, and I will be facilitating a forum in Smithton on 31 October to address this particular issue.

But I want to make this particularly clear. We know there is a problem and we know that we must come together to try to solve the problem. But ice is no more an issue in Tasmania, particularly on the north-west of Tasmania, than it is for Victoria or New South Wales. This is both a community problem and a national problem. At a crucial time in the history of Tasmania, a time when there is renewed confidence, it is disappointing that mainland media have focused on one part of the country and have presented an image that leaves a very deep and unfortunate perception footprint in the minds of people across Australia and potentially overseas.