Robert Ray (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ellison, the Minister for Justice and Customs. Has the minister been informed of a recent United Nations report that only six of 34 Afghan provinces are now opium free? Can the minister confirm that the amount of Afghan land under poppy cultivation has increased by 162 per cent since the start of 2005 and that Afghanistan now supplies 92 per cent of the world’s supply of opium, the raw material for heroin? Can the minister explain why the Howard government has stood idly by while the Afghan government has struggled to prevent this massive growth? Why are young Australian service men and women risking their lives in Afghanistan to protect a government that ignores poppy cultivation, which in turn has the effect of allowing heroin to be sent to Australia with the resultant loss of young Australian lives?