Mr HENDERSON - 2000-11-30
Latest figures from the Aids Council, which runs the needle exchange program, show that 1-millilitre syringes, predominantly used for the injection of amphetamines, increased from 9000 in August this year to 16 000 in October ...
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: You don’t think this is serious, minister?
… An increase of 76% in one quarter alone. The production, distribution and sale of amphetamines are crimes. These drugs are not acquired from medication scripts - they are manufactured, predominantly by bikie gangs. Are you going to stand here and state that drug-related crime is minuscule, as the Chief Minister stated, and is not spiralling out of control? Isn’t it a fact that the bikie gangs are better resourced than our police, who are fighting a losing battle?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, drug-related crime - any crime - in the Northern Territory concerns the government and certainly concerns police. We have directed an extra 46% in funding to the police over the last few years so they are better resourced.
With regard to drug-related crime, the policy of the member for Wanguri and the rest of the seven dwarfs opposite is to introduce a methadone program. So do you think we had a look at this in the past? Yes, we did. You agree, don’t you, that you want a methadone program? You want a methadone program. So, let me tell you what happens when you have a methadone program. You see an alarming increase in drug-related crime. Not only that ...
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
MrREED: I thank him for that interjection - rubbish. Have a look interstate to see what people think about drug-related crime. Ask Territorians what they think about taxpayers paying for people to maintain their drug habit, because that is what a methadone program does. And have a look at the Herald Sun. Look at this. They are worried about the level of crime, and it is compared interstate. We have minor levels of drug-related crime in the Northern Territory. If you had a methadone program, you would not have the circumstances that we have here today. Drug takers interstate, those people with an illegal drug habit, will not come to the Northern Territory because they cannot get drugs here. They know that they cannot get a free taxpayer fix in the form of a methadone program, so they stay away.
I used to have them when I was health minister. They would be phoning my office saying: ‘I would like to come to the Northern Territory for a holiday, but I can’t because you do not have a methadone program. I am a drug addict’. And I would say: ‘Well, I am very pleased that you are staying in Victoria’. The more they stay away, the better.
Those jurisdictions with a methadone program can look forward to drug dealers and street thugs tightening their grip. In the heart of Melbourne, despite a police blitz to clean up the city, drug trafficking, sex attacks, street theft and assaults have risen dramatically over the past year, as police figures show. Here they are, drug addicts all over the place. This is the Herald Sun of 21 November:
The heart of Melbourne and its key gateway, Swanston Street, have become a haven for drug addicts.
That’s what you want here. And there are other reports. Councillor Wellington Lee advocates a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. But the paper reports:
The council on which he sits has spent much of its recent time toying with half-baked schemes which would only serve to facilitate the use of heroin … The time for soft options is gone!
The big turn-around is coming down south. People are starting to twig to the fact that taxpayer-funded drug addicts are not doing the community any good. They are saying the time for the soft options - that is, maintaining these people on their drug habit - is gone. And he wants to ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!I appreciate the information that the honourable minister is providing, but the question did go to the supply of amphetamines and the bikie gang involvement in that, and how well the police were resourced to tackle the resources available to the bikie gangs. It is a question I do not think he wants to answer, but I redirect his attention to it.
Mr SPEAKER: Once again, I say that there is no point of order. The answer must to relevant to the question. To date, I believe, it has been relevant.
Mr REED: One of the related matters is property offences as drug-related crime - people going into people’s businesses or houses to get items to sell and maintain their drug habits. Offences reported to police against property have dropped from over 20 000 in 1995-96 to 17 500 or thereabouts in 1999-2000. That is the result of the policing resources that this government has provided. There has been a substantial …
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: There has not been an increase. Give the police a bit of credit for what they have done. This is an astounding outcome for Territorians, and I table it. You had it available because I gave it to you yesterday in the report. You refused to read it.
This is the Labor policy - Labor on drugs and crime. They cannot get away from it. It is only a matter of days old. This is Territory Labor:
We need a summit that involves all in the health arena - health practitioners, administrators, bureaucrats and ministers.
That is them talking as would-be ministers, talking about getting all these hand-wringers together to say: ‘We want a methadone program’. Territorians won’t have a methadone program. Taxpayers are not going to fund one while this government is in power for people to maintain their drug habits. If we had such a program we would end up like the streets of Melbourne and Sydney.
The NT News, in an item which carries a photograph of the member for Wanguri, who has been pushing the issue, reported:
The government is encouraged by the findings of a Federal Police report that described the NT as being ‘fortunate’ that it does not have a methadone treatment program. The report said the introduction of such a program would ‘probably’ entice more heroin users to Darwin,brought here by a number of factors including the program, weather, lifestyle and social security benefits.
That is what you want to do to Territorians. Your policies would attract every drug addict in Australia to the Northern Territory because they could come here through the dry season and they would not have to live in a residence. They could live anywhere outside, in a vehicle or what have you, because of our wonderful climate. They would not only be on social security benefits, they would be on the Labor government taxpayer-funded drug enhancement scheme.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: You don’t think this is serious, minister?
… An increase of 76% in one quarter alone. The production, distribution and sale of amphetamines are crimes. These drugs are not acquired from medication scripts - they are manufactured, predominantly by bikie gangs. Are you going to stand here and state that drug-related crime is minuscule, as the Chief Minister stated, and is not spiralling out of control? Isn’t it a fact that the bikie gangs are better resourced than our police, who are fighting a losing battle?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, drug-related crime - any crime - in the Northern Territory concerns the government and certainly concerns police. We have directed an extra 46% in funding to the police over the last few years so they are better resourced.
With regard to drug-related crime, the policy of the member for Wanguri and the rest of the seven dwarfs opposite is to introduce a methadone program. So do you think we had a look at this in the past? Yes, we did. You agree, don’t you, that you want a methadone program? You want a methadone program. So, let me tell you what happens when you have a methadone program. You see an alarming increase in drug-related crime. Not only that ...
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
MrREED: I thank him for that interjection - rubbish. Have a look interstate to see what people think about drug-related crime. Ask Territorians what they think about taxpayers paying for people to maintain their drug habit, because that is what a methadone program does. And have a look at the Herald Sun. Look at this. They are worried about the level of crime, and it is compared interstate. We have minor levels of drug-related crime in the Northern Territory. If you had a methadone program, you would not have the circumstances that we have here today. Drug takers interstate, those people with an illegal drug habit, will not come to the Northern Territory because they cannot get drugs here. They know that they cannot get a free taxpayer fix in the form of a methadone program, so they stay away.
I used to have them when I was health minister. They would be phoning my office saying: ‘I would like to come to the Northern Territory for a holiday, but I can’t because you do not have a methadone program. I am a drug addict’. And I would say: ‘Well, I am very pleased that you are staying in Victoria’. The more they stay away, the better.
Those jurisdictions with a methadone program can look forward to drug dealers and street thugs tightening their grip. In the heart of Melbourne, despite a police blitz to clean up the city, drug trafficking, sex attacks, street theft and assaults have risen dramatically over the past year, as police figures show. Here they are, drug addicts all over the place. This is the Herald Sun of 21 November:
The heart of Melbourne and its key gateway, Swanston Street, have become a haven for drug addicts.
That’s what you want here. And there are other reports. Councillor Wellington Lee advocates a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. But the paper reports:
The council on which he sits has spent much of its recent time toying with half-baked schemes which would only serve to facilitate the use of heroin … The time for soft options is gone!
The big turn-around is coming down south. People are starting to twig to the fact that taxpayer-funded drug addicts are not doing the community any good. They are saying the time for the soft options - that is, maintaining these people on their drug habit - is gone. And he wants to ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!I appreciate the information that the honourable minister is providing, but the question did go to the supply of amphetamines and the bikie gang involvement in that, and how well the police were resourced to tackle the resources available to the bikie gangs. It is a question I do not think he wants to answer, but I redirect his attention to it.
Mr SPEAKER: Once again, I say that there is no point of order. The answer must to relevant to the question. To date, I believe, it has been relevant.
Mr REED: One of the related matters is property offences as drug-related crime - people going into people’s businesses or houses to get items to sell and maintain their drug habits. Offences reported to police against property have dropped from over 20 000 in 1995-96 to 17 500 or thereabouts in 1999-2000. That is the result of the policing resources that this government has provided. There has been a substantial …
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: There has not been an increase. Give the police a bit of credit for what they have done. This is an astounding outcome for Territorians, and I table it. You had it available because I gave it to you yesterday in the report. You refused to read it.
This is the Labor policy - Labor on drugs and crime. They cannot get away from it. It is only a matter of days old. This is Territory Labor:
We need a summit that involves all in the health arena - health practitioners, administrators, bureaucrats and ministers.
That is them talking as would-be ministers, talking about getting all these hand-wringers together to say: ‘We want a methadone program’. Territorians won’t have a methadone program. Taxpayers are not going to fund one while this government is in power for people to maintain their drug habits. If we had such a program we would end up like the streets of Melbourne and Sydney.
The NT News, in an item which carries a photograph of the member for Wanguri, who has been pushing the issue, reported:
The government is encouraged by the findings of a Federal Police report that described the NT as being ‘fortunate’ that it does not have a methadone treatment program. The report said the introduction of such a program would ‘probably’ entice more heroin users to Darwin,brought here by a number of factors including the program, weather, lifestyle and social security benefits.
That is what you want to do to Territorians. Your policies would attract every drug addict in Australia to the Northern Territory because they could come here through the dry season and they would not have to live in a residence. They could live anywhere outside, in a vehicle or what have you, because of our wonderful climate. They would not only be on social security benefits, they would be on the Labor government taxpayer-funded drug enhancement scheme.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016