Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

He and the premiers—I suspect it was Mr Turnbull but I'm not sure—announced this policy framework. It is broad and allows the states and territories to make different laws in this area.

There is, of course, no perfect response. That is the truth here. Each approach of each of the states and territories comes with risks, advantages and disadvantages. It involves the intersection of health and social policy and, indeed, the criminal law, and no approach is immune from criticism. I remember well the New South Wales drug summit that occurred in the 1990s and the controversy that accompanied that. I also remember that politicians from each side of the aisle in the New South Wales parliament, despite all of the misgivings and apprehensions, came together. They disagreed and agreed, but they came together in a genuine process. I remember how difficult the process was, particularly as there are very few families in this country that are not touched by these issues. The issues affect families and people in very difficult ways, and they would affect many of the people in this place who have come to this debate. I'm sure that in the Australian Capital Territory assembly those issues would have weighed heavily on the minds of those people who made those decisions. In fact, the National Drug Strategy says that it is best practice for states and territories to implement the strategy in the way that best suits their jurisdiction. On page 16, it says:

Jurisdictional implementation allows for governments to take action relevant to their jurisdiction with a national harm minimisation approach and strategies should reflect    local circumstances and    address emerging issues and drug types. Coordination and collaboration supports jurisdictions to develop better responses and innovations within the national approach that can inform and benefit all jurisdictions by sharing practices and learning.

That is the position, the agreed approach, between a conservative government and the states and territories. Adopting the approach that Senator Cash and her colleagues are asking the parliament for not just flies substantially in the face of that agreed approach between the states and territories and the Commonwealth but fatally undermines it. It undermines the national approach on drugs. It undermines the capacity of the ACT assembly to make laws in a way that it sees fit. It undermines the governance arrangements, where there are alternative approaches.

One approach is to work consistently with the rights and responsibilities of states and territories, to share responsibility and to work together to solve big national challenges. The alternative approach—exemplified by Mr Morrison, of course—was to point fingers, to look for arguments, to sensationalise, to fight and to argue. That is not the approach that this government will take. For our part in the Commonwealth government, we will focus—and Mr Dreyfus and the others who are responsible in this area will focus—on our responsibility, which is about stopping illicit drugs and organised crime at the border.