Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Minister for Rural Health) Share this | Hansard source

Many people in this chamber and beyond will be aware of the work that the National Ice Taskforce did last year, culminating in a report to government. The thing that became very clear is that we cannot arrest our way out of this problem—that we absolutely have to focus as well on reducing demand. This government recognises how significant this problem is for this country, and we are seeing continuing reports of the rise in the use of this drug. That is why the government committed almost $300 million to tackle ice, which has been very well received right around the country.

As part of that, there is going to be $241.5 million that is going to go to treatment and rehab services. This is incredibly important because, as we say, we cannot arrest our way out of this, and we have to assist people to get off this drug. It is in recognition of that that a very significant component of this package is going towards those things. There is also $13 million going to a new MBS item for addiction medicine specialists. This means that we are going to be able to increase the availability of treatment in this area. There will be $24.9 million going towards families and communities. As I travelled around the country along with my colleague Michael Keenan, the Minister for Justice, I saw that the impact on families and communities is devastating. That is why this coalition government recognised that the funding component had to be significant to allow families and communities to be assisted and, indeed, allow local communities themselves to be part of addressing this problem, something that they said to us continually as we and the task force were moving around the country.