Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. We are all confident about Australia's future. Therefore, will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is working to make it even better by keeping Australians safe, including by cracking down on illegal drugs? And is the minister aware of any alternative approaches?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. All of us on this side of the House want to make sure that we can put more investment into the Australian Federal Police and into our agencies otherwise within the Home Affairs portfolio, because we want to keep Australians safe. In the last budget, we put an additional $615 million into the AFP, specifically with a mandate of trying to stop those importations of drugs, particularly ice, which is a life-destroying drug.

In many regional towns across the country now I want to say to mums and dads and community leaders who are living with this scourge every day: we are doing more than ever to try and clean up this problem, particularly in regional areas but in our capital cities and outer metropolitan areas as well.

I'm pleased to advise the House that the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force have executed 13 search warrants on premises, vehicles and persons across Victoria and so far have arrested three Australians. The activity in relation to this operation is Australia's largest ever onshore ice seizure and the largest heroin seizure for over two years. Together, the AFP and the ABF have prevented over 1.6 tonnes of ice and heroin from reaching the Australian community. They've seized 1,594 kilos of ice, with an estimated street value of $1.1 billion, and 37 kilograms of heroin, with an estimated street value $18.5 million.

So, are we doing all that we can to make sure that young Australians have a brighter future? Absolutely we are. We want to make sure there is awareness, that there's health support for people that are addicted to drugs. We want to make sure that, where communities need support, we will provide that support. So the attack on the scourge of drugs by the Morrison government is something that is taken up by every department of this Commonwealth. Not only do we want to make sure that we can help the police stop these importations taking place and stop these drugs getting into the bodies of young teenagers and Australians of all ages; we want to make sure that we invest across the education space, which is important, and in health as well.

I want to commend all of the officers from the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Border Force and the agencies otherwise—Victoria Police and others—who would have been involved in this investigation. This investigation is ongoing. It's one of many that the AFP has control of at the moment. I want to send a very clear message to those people, particularly outlaw motorcycle gang members, who are the biggest distributors of ice and amphetamines in our country, that the Morrison government will make sure we do everything to keep Australians safe, to make sure that the future of this country is as bright as it humanly can be, and we are determined to continue to support the Australian Federal Police. (Time expired)