Lisa Singh (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, I present a report of the committee entitled Examination of the Australian Crime Commission annual report 2013-14, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

Leave granted.

I would like to highlight that the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement has revised its methods by which it completes its review of the Australian Crime Commission's annual report and this includes a greater focus on whether agencies have met their KPIs. I understand in its annual report the ACC includes information about its ongoing task force work, which is of continuing interest to the committee. I particularly want to highlight the ACC's report the Australian methamphetamine market—the national picture, which I think falls outside of this annual report but presumably will be in this year's annual report, is starting a national conversation on the prevalence and impact of ice on our Australian communities. It is quite a detailed report going into the link between methylamphetamine and violence. The same report states that over the last five years there has been significant growth in the detection, importation, manufacture and supply of methylamphetamine and also finds that the purity of ice has increased, making its use ever more dangerous and that users have an increased risk of psychosis and mental illness.

It was this report, which was a snapshot of the current Australian picture in relation to methylamphetamine, which led the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement to decide to commence an inquiry into ice and that is currently happening. We have been asking for submissions and we will commence a public hearing process in July, but surprisingly it was after the committee had made its decision to launch into this inquiry and after the ACC's report into the methylamphetamine market was launched that the government decided to start a National Ice Taskforce. All credit to the government for doing that. Of course we supported the government's approach to that because it puts more of a spotlight on the very critical issue of ice in our community. I understand the task force already has visited Darwin, Newcastle, Mount Gambier, Hobart and Mildura and that it has an interim report due in September. All of that is well and good. Obviously our committee will be doing detailed inquiry work as well and it really was borne out of a lot of the work that the ACC did first and foremost in its national picture report. The issue I have is, if the government is really serious about the National Ice Taskforce, I am very concerned about how it has recently slashed funding for drug and alcohol services. Some $500 million has been ripped from the flexible health fund. I understand quite a proportion of that goes specifically into drug and alcohol services. In the short time that this committee has been asking for submissions the responses I have received have been about the fact there currently are not enough drug rehabilitation services for victims of crystal methylamphetamine, of ice. I find it very shorted-sighted. If the government is seriously concerned about ice addiction it would continue to fund the organisations on the front line which are assisting those with substance misuse problems.

So the task force is doing its job; it still has a long way to go; I understand it has other places it will visit; but, as I said, I just do not know how serious this government is about resolving this problem and responding to some of the issues that the ACC has clearly raised in its report. Our committee will, of course, be putting forward serious recommendations to the government by the conclusion of our public hearing process. I am looking forward, as I know the other committee members are, to that public hearing process. I think there is not one state or territory in Australia with families in it who do not know someone who has been touched by this insidious substance, which is really causing havoc in our communities—as it is in other parts of the world, with the international trends that the ACC talked about.

I table the annual report. I look forward to next year's annual report including more detail about the Australian methylamphetamine market—the national picture report, which the ACC launched in early April. I still look forward to the government's National Ice Taskforce and to what comes out of it—I know that it is very well resourced. I urge the government to put funding back into drug and alcohol services right now to show that it is committed to and serious about reducing the impact of ice on our communities. To do that, of course we need the law enforcement side, but we also need the rehabilitation and treatment side. That is where, currently, this government is failing badly. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.