E&OE...................
Well thank you very much Major Watters. To Garth Popple, to Mr Mick Palmer,
the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, to Mr Hyde, the Commissioner
of the police service in South Australia, other members of the council,
ladies and gentlemen.
As you know I have a very strong personal interest in and commitment to
the cause of reducing drug dependence in our community. And the Tough on
Drugs strategy is designed in different ways to respond to the many challenges
of the terrible scourge of drug abuse in Australian society.
I'm often asked what are the most lasting memories I have of places and
people and events. In the time that I've been Prime Minister, and indeed
the time that I've been in public life I can honestly say that I had one
of those experiences just before the formal part of this meeting started
when I had the opportunity to talk directly to the residents of this facility
here, for them to tell me the change that being here had meant to them and
the way in which it had given them a sense of hope about the future and
a capacity to control their lives.
And it did make a great impression on me. Here are ordinary men and women,
just as easily your sons and daughters, and my sons and daughters as anybody
else's sons and daughters. Many of them had been addicted for a long time.
They'd all been through very difficult experiences. What was very encouraging
to me and very uplifting was they talked about their experiences very freely
and openly. Perhaps they recognised my face but none of them had met me
before. And I thought, gee, if you could have facilities like this all around
Australia it would be of enormous help. And a facility like this expresses
in a way the best possible community response. It's saying to the people
who've got a problem you've got to help yourself. You can't expect somebody
else to solve your problem. On the other hand we are willing to provide
you with a facility to try and help you and to try and put your life together
and re-enter the community and play a very constructive role.
I guess if there's one thing about the whole debate on drugs that annoys
me more than anything else it is the obsessive preoccupation of sections
of the media on those issues where there's some disagreement about how to
tackle the problem. There's always going to be debate in a democratic society
about whether you have this or that approach. Can I say to you that as to
about 90 to 95% of the whole debate everybody agrees. I mean everybody agrees
that we have to adequately resource our police in order to try and catch
the drug pushers and make sure they go to gaol for a very long period of
time and nobody has any argument about that. I haven't heard one person
say you've got to go easy on drug pushers or drug barons. Everybody knows
that. And we are putting more resources
into that effort.
And let me praise the efforts of the police around Australia. It's not an
easy job. They're at the sharp end both of the criminal activity and also
sadly of the death and personal misery that comes about as the result of
drug abuse. Of course you've got to do that.
And of course you've got to educate young people about the dangers of drug
taking. You've got to encourage young people not to start taking drugs.
You've got to encourage young people at the very beginning about how dangerous
it is to even experiment with drugs. There's a lot of peer group pressure
for them to do otherwise but you've got to put resources into that. And
you also have got to have resources to help people when they want to kick
their drug habit and that in a sense is the third arm of the approach. You've
got law enforcement, you've got education and you've got helping people
who've got a problem. And those three things underpin our Tough on Drugs
approach, and we've allocated about $500 million to that program during
the last couple of years. And it does represent a huge investment by the
Federal Government in the campaign against drugs.
But I'm delighted to be able to announce today that we have reached agreement
with State governments for a national approach based on the concept of diversion.
And what the concept of diversion very simply says is that if you are caught
on a minor possession offence, or you're a first offender, what basically
you are told is look you've got a choice. You can go into the criminal justice
system. Get caught up with court procedures and the possibility of a penalty,
fine, and then perhaps ultimately gaol. Now that's one alternative and you
can go down that path if you want to. The other alternative is that if you're
prepared to undertake some kind of treatment or rehabilitation course then
you will spared the rigours of the criminal justice system.
Now I think that is a policy that has not only wide support in the Australian
community, but it's a policy that makes an enormous amount of sense. And
it's a policy that in a way encapsulates the principle that I often ennunciate
on behalf of the Government, and that is the principle of mutual obligation.
And that is that if people need some help and deserve help than we have
a moral obligation as a decent community to offer them that help. But they've
got to something in return if they're able to do so, and what we're saying
to people is you've got a drug problem we'll provide you with rehabilitation
and treatment facilities. But you've got to be willing to undertake that
treatment and the alternative is if you don't you run the risk of being
caught up in the criminal justice system. Now I think that is a good, fair
Australian principle. I think it's a commonsense Australian principle and
I think every Australian I've confronted with that and explained it in that
way they've said yes that is a very intelligent way of handling it.
Now what I'm really announcing today is that we have reached a framework
agreement with all of the States and I've had great cooperation across the
political divide. This is not a party political issue. I will sit down and
sign an agreement and negotiate an understanding with a Labor Premier of
New South Wales or Queensland or Victoria, as readily as I will with a Liberal
Premier of South Australia or Western Australia. This is an issue that must
be free of party politics and I'm happy to work with ministers and premiers
of any political complexion. And I know that Mr Carr for example here in
New South Wales, and Mr Beattie of Queensland share just about all of the
views. We might have some differences of emphasis in a few areas but on
most of the issues our views are very similar, because as human beings we're
distressed at the human misery that's involved. We know people who have
lost loved ones. None of us in public life can ever forget the experience
of sitting down with a parent and going through the details of the loss
and deprivation they suffer when they lose a child to a drug overdose or
some other event that is influenced by drug abuse.
So I am delighted to announce today that we have reached that framework
agreement. We've already had a very detailed proposal put to us by New South
Wales and I expect to conclude an agreement on the detailed operation of
the scheme with the New South Wales Government very very shortly. Now this
is something that pleases me no end because it is the next stage of the
agreement that I reached when all of us met in Canberra in April. And we
announced a further commitment of money in cooperation with the states.
We, of course, will provide the money for the diversionary programme, they
will provide the supporting facilities, that is the police services, and
many of the rehabilitation facilities the states have an involvement in.
But it is a very comprehensive approach and the important thing that I am
announcing today is that we have been able to set aside political differences,
we have been able to reach an overall framework agreement. And over the
next few months we will sign individual agreements with the different states
and the process will then begin.
It will open up another new approach, I am not saying that this is going
to solve the problem. The last thing anybody in a position of responsibility
on the drug issue should ever do is ever dream of declaring victory. But
the other thing you should ever do is ever dream of admitting defeat. It
is tremendously important that we persevere. I have learnt in life the most
important capacity that any nation, or any group of people can have is perseverance
because you are always in dealing with a difficult problem, you are always
going to go through moments of absolute exasperation and desperation. I
would make this same appeal to the media, please by all means report things
objectively as you see fit, but also understand that there are some wonderfully
successful stories in the fight against drugs. And it is important that
those stories be reported as well as the stories and the pictures of death
and addiction and the impression being created that all is hopeless and
nothing can be done and everybody's given up the fight.
Wherever I go in Australia, I don't find the police have given up the fight,
I don't find that people in the great volunteer organisations have given
up the fight, I don't find that parents who have lost children through drugs
have given up the fight, in fact they are wanting to give something back
and perhaps prevent the heartache that they have experienced from being
experienced by other Australian parents.
So ladies and gentleman, I do feel a deep personal commitment to this issue.
There is nothing that horrifies me more as a parent or as an Australian,
let alone as Prime Minister, than the notion and the concept that drug addiction
in this country can get out of control. And the experience, half an hour
ago, of talking to some young men and women who've had a problem and are
now seeing a way out of it, who have found a vehicle to do so and to hear
them talk optimistically about what they are going to do with their lives,
that is about as rewarding as it can get, as far as I am concerned, in this
position. That is far more important to me than the latest implicit price
deflator or whatever description that you want to give to some kind of economic
statistic. But of course, the stronger our economy is the greater capacity
we have to assist those areas of our community that need help.
I often talk about the notion of a social coalition. A social coalition
is a word I, or a description I use to outline a reality, that is that when
we have got a problem, the Government can't do everything to solve it, although
it can do a lot, because the government is in command of the nation's resources
and can divert them in a special direction. Individuals acting alone can't
solve the problem either, although they have to realise that they have got
a problem, to begin to find a solution. The business community is often
willing to help, it can have resources but perhaps not the expertise. And
the great welfare organisations, and many of them are represented here today,
the large, like the Salvation Army, the smaller, such as We Help Ourselves,
all of them playing a magnificent role.
But none of those groups acting alone can do it. But if they work together,
if they pool their resources, if you bring about a social coalition, and
this is a social coalition, you have got the Government, you've got the
community organisations, you've got the individual commitment and you have
also got the sympathy and the help of many in the business community. And
increasingly I see our country in a particular and a special Australian
way, solving our problems, tackling our challenges by a coalition of all
of those elements in society.
So ladies and gentlemen, I want to declare open, five months after it commenced
it's magnificent work, but nonetheless officially, this magnificent We Help
Ourselves Centre, which provides for a methadone to abstinence transition
programme. If the experiences relayed to me, by the men and women to whom
I spoke, they in such an optimistic way, and me in listening in an admiring
way, half an hour ago, if this is a sample of what the social coalition
can do here in Lidcombe, in Sydney, and I am sure it can be duplicated all
around Australia. It fills me with an enormous sense of hope.
And what also fills me with a great sense of hope is that we are making
progress on the diversion approach. We are offering people what will be
widely regarded as a realistic choice. We will help you break your drug
habit, provided you're prepared to undertake the treatment and the rehabilitation.
But if you are not, you run the risk of being caught up in the criminal
justice system. I think that is a nice balance, it reminds people of the
consequences but it does it in a non-threatening and I think realistic way.
Can I again, can I thank Brian Watters, the Chairman of the Drug Council,
who is doing a magnificent job as spokesman for the Council. He has got
a vigorous Council and I acknowledge the presence today of other members
of the Council. They represent a variety of views from a variety of perspectives.
It doesn't really matter, what is important is that their collective heart
is in the right place and they are all heading in the right direction and
that is to try and fight and reduce and in some parts of the country eliminate
the scourge of drugs. It is a noble cause, as we come to the end of this
Century and we look upon the Third Millennium, it's become almost a clich
to talk about the Millennium atmosphere and what do we hope for the next
Millennium? I am sure greater progress in fighting the scourge of drugs
in Australia will be something which would spring readily to mind to most
of the people in this audience. I congratulate the State governments on
their cooperation. I thank them for their willingness to work with the Federal
Government. I thank the Council and most particularly, Garth, I thank you
for your personal contribution and leadership in this area. I congratulate
you on such a magnificent facility. I am very impressed with it and I hope
to see many more around Australia.
[Ends]