Mr HENDERSON - 2001-07-05
Minister, there is no doubt that intravenous drug use has been rising dramatically in Darwin and Palmerston areas. A recent study sponsored by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre showed that in the four years to 2000 there was a 388% increase in needles distributed through the syringe program, and an eleven-fold increase in the consumption of morphine tablets. When this report was released you hid your head in the sand denying this alarming increase and its link to property crime. Since then you have refused to allow police to front a Senate committee investigating drug use patterns. Now you are refusing to cooperate with further national funded studies to uptake the research, jeopardising the national arrangements in place.
How can the CLP claim that the Territory’s intravenous drug problem is minuscule and infinitesimal when you do not even cooperate to have the necessary research undertaken?
ANSWER
We are working on many fronts in relation to the trade in illicit drugs. The Minister for Territory Health Services has an ongoing program that does not operate in isolation but is conducted in conjunction with police and other Northern Territory government agencies to ensure that we have appropriate measures in place.
The member for Wanguri, who is good at making remarks but not substantiating the point that he has been putting forward, made an assertion in the last sittings that the government agencies in the Northern Territory all operate separately in relation to these matters. They are not coordinated and, as a consequence, that creates problems in the community. Not so. There is a highly coordinated approach to these matters through the agencies that I have just named. That has been in place for many years and will continue.
In addition to that, the Northern Territory Police Force are working with the National Crime Authority and the federal police and, where necessary, other agencies to ensure that our skills and our resources are matched with those elsewhere. In terms of being proactive in that regard, you can be proud of what the Northern Territory Police Force are doing together with other agencies to address those issues.
In addition to that, the fact is ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Keep burbling on. The fact is that the police force here are very proactive. They do have a coordinated approach. They are well resourced in those areas where the Police Commissioner and senior management are of the view that those resources should be directed.
So I call on the opposition to stop denigrating the activities of hard working police officers and to recognise that there is ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr Henderson: You nearly sank the whole national program.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Arrant nonsense - nearly sank the whole national program. If we nearly sank the whole national program I suspect we would have heard about it from a more reliable and useful source than the member for Wanguri who, from time to time, uses these feeble approaches and suggestions to try to get a political point across. In that regard, I reject the assertions that he makes. Although they are not substantiated and from the point of view of the resources that are directed to it and the professionalism by the Northern Territory Police Force, Territorians can be assured that everything being done is meeting their needs and will continue to do so.
How can the CLP claim that the Territory’s intravenous drug problem is minuscule and infinitesimal when you do not even cooperate to have the necessary research undertaken?
ANSWER
We are working on many fronts in relation to the trade in illicit drugs. The Minister for Territory Health Services has an ongoing program that does not operate in isolation but is conducted in conjunction with police and other Northern Territory government agencies to ensure that we have appropriate measures in place.
The member for Wanguri, who is good at making remarks but not substantiating the point that he has been putting forward, made an assertion in the last sittings that the government agencies in the Northern Territory all operate separately in relation to these matters. They are not coordinated and, as a consequence, that creates problems in the community. Not so. There is a highly coordinated approach to these matters through the agencies that I have just named. That has been in place for many years and will continue.
In addition to that, the Northern Territory Police Force are working with the National Crime Authority and the federal police and, where necessary, other agencies to ensure that our skills and our resources are matched with those elsewhere. In terms of being proactive in that regard, you can be proud of what the Northern Territory Police Force are doing together with other agencies to address those issues.
In addition to that, the fact is ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Keep burbling on. The fact is that the police force here are very proactive. They do have a coordinated approach. They are well resourced in those areas where the Police Commissioner and senior management are of the view that those resources should be directed.
So I call on the opposition to stop denigrating the activities of hard working police officers and to recognise that there is ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr Henderson: You nearly sank the whole national program.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Arrant nonsense - nearly sank the whole national program. If we nearly sank the whole national program I suspect we would have heard about it from a more reliable and useful source than the member for Wanguri who, from time to time, uses these feeble approaches and suggestions to try to get a political point across. In that regard, I reject the assertions that he makes. Although they are not substantiated and from the point of view of the resources that are directed to it and the professionalism by the Northern Territory Police Force, Territorians can be assured that everything being done is meeting their needs and will continue to do so.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016