Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

There was no clearer and straighter answer given today than that from Senator Ellison to Senator Ray’s question. We all know that old political roue: he threw it out there and no sooner did it go belly up than he tried to reel it back in. The answer was straight and clear from Senator Ellison today: of course the government has a concern with regard to the Afghanistan poppy-growing industry. That it is and has been in the past and could well become a primary market in Afghanistan, the government is concerned about and is acting upon it. But the truth of the matter is that the main source of heroin to this country is South-East Asia. It is not Afghanistan. According to Senator Ellison, there have been samples and examples of heroin coming in from Afghanistan to Australia, but it is not the primary source into this country at all. That is the straight answer he gave you and that is the one you reeled back from mighty quickly, Senator Ray. It was pretty pathetic to see from someone with your background.

We know the committees that you represent, we know the information that you have and to take up a cheapjack question such as that was pretty pathetic indeed. There is no minister in this government who has had such a success rate with regard to the government’s Tough on Drugs policy than Senator Ellison. Don’t come in here and say that you have supported to the hilt the government’s Tough on Drugs policy. You have not. You have given it qualified support. That is the best I can say: you have given this government’s Tough on Drugs policy qualified support. You would not come out when most needed and condemn the New South Wales government when they brought in their harm minimisation program with the heroin injecting room policy. You went quiet and soft on that. You are tough on drugs when it suits you to be but, when one of your own introduces a harm minimisation policy, you go quiet.

In fact, you have given qualified support to the government’s Tough on Drugs policy, which has been enormously successful, and no minister has guided that policy better than Senator Ellison. It has a three-pronged approach: firstly, the education policy, which goes into schools and onto the television and into newspapers, educating the public and the young with regard to the harm that drugs bring; secondly, introducing the full force of the law, which is something you have shied at over there. You have shied at the full force of the law and the tough penalties. And what a result this policy has had. We have had record busts in heroin to the extent that we have a drought in heroin in this country. We are proud to say we have created a drought in heroin in this country. Senator Ellison cited the example of the Herald Sun, where it produced, alongside the disastrous and tragic road toll figures, the heroin overdose figures, which once remarkably and incredibly matched the road toll figures. That is no longer the case today. One of the reasons is the Tough on Drugs policy, the tough law enforcement and the greater resources given to the Federal Police and also the Australian Crime Commission, in tandem with the state police.

That has been incredibly successful in drying up the heroin coming into this country. We acknowledge that there has now been a shift towards amphetamines because of the focus of the Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission on the heroin trade. We will now get tough on the amphetamine trade too. It is a never-ending cycle but if you are not tough, if you do not have the laws and you do not have the education policy you will not be successful. Senator Ellison has been a successful minister, a minister who is undeserving of that question. In fact, the questioner was undeserving in presenting that question. God knows where it came from out of the tactics committee. It was utterly undeserving. It was not worthy of Senator Ray and it was certainly not worthy of the minister. (Time expired)