Subjects: Drugs
E&OE.................
Thank you very much for those very kind words of welcome, and I particularly
acknowledge the presence here today of Brian Watters and David Crosby.
And can I especially thank the mission and the residents, and the
other people who are supported by and use this facility, for the opportunity
of being your guest today.
I want to say a few very brief words about the important work that
organisations such as the Adelaide Central Mission undertake, and
of course to announce in a formal sense, although the funding was
announced a few weeks ago by my colleague Dr Wooldridge, a further
contribution of over a quarter-of-a-million dollars to the mission
which will enable the employment of an additional counsellor to provide
further work to assist the people who continue to need the assistance
of this, and like facilities not only in Adelaide but all around Australia.
This announcement is part of an overall strategy of the Federal government
trying to provide extra help to the many people in the community who
are working so hard to attack the problem of illicit drugs.
And I want to say at the outset ladies and gentlemen, that nobody,
not least the Prime Minister of Australia, pretends that there is
one simple easy solution to the challenge of illicit drugs.
It's been a challenge that has been with us for a long time.
It's a challenge of which the community is perhaps more deeply aware
now than it has been for a very long period of time. And it's a challenge
for which there is no one simple single easy solution.
It needs to attacked in my view in three ways. We need to provide
additional resources and additional energy in educating people against
the dangers of commencing illicit drug use. We need to provide
additional resources to the law enforcement authorities who seek out
those who would profit at the expense of human misery of others.
And indeed we need to work hard against the abuse of alcohol within
our community, as indeed we need to work hard against the abuse of
gambling within our community. And I have certainly as Prime
Minister have spoken often of the need to fight against the abuse
of gambling within our community. And finally, as part of the three
pronged approach if I can put it that way, we need to put additional
resources into providing treatment facilities for people who have
an addiction problem. And this is a good meeting. Reminds
me of some of the older political meetings I used to go to and I'm
enjoying it immensely.
You need extra resources to go into treatment facilities and that
has been an area that I think has been neglected in the Australian
community, and I don't seek to blame any one section of the community
for that but rather I seek to acknowledge, and I think in common with
others that have been involved in the area, I believe that new and
additional resources ought to be provided. And I'm very pleased
to say that over the last two years my Government has committed more
than $500 million over a period of four years to the war against drugs.
Not only in relation to education, but also in relation to policing
and in relation to treatment facilities.
But ladies and gentlemen, facilities such as Byron House provided
by the Adelaide Central Mission, facilities such as Byron House provide
a vital support capacity to those in our community who need help,
and who need assistance: people who have a problem with alcohol addiction,
people who have a problem with other forms of drug addiction, people
who are suffering the impact of homelessness. And I want to
pay a special tribute to the work of organisations such as the Adelaide
Central Mission. I have long admired the contribution of our
great welfare organisations, the city missions, the St Vincent de
Paul, the Salvation Army, and all the other great organisations that
provide in a very selfless way, the necessity to assist the people
of Australia who need assistance and who are suffering particular
problems of addiction and a particular problem of personal and family
distress.
So I am here today to principally applaud the work of the Adelaide
Central Mission, to remind those who work in facilities such as this
just how valuable their work is. We do need a social coalition
in the Australian community to deal with this challenge. The
government can't do it on its own. The welfare organisations
can't do it on their own. The families of people who have a
drug problem can't do it on their own. What is needed is a coalition
between all of those. And rather than at a political level there
be a preoccupation with some of the differences that might exist between
different governments about how you approach this problem, what we
need to do within our community is to focus on those views that we
have in common, to focus on the common commitment of Federal and State
governments across the political divide to trying to make a difference.
Now, nobody has, as I said at the beginning of my remarks, nobody
has all of the answers. I don't seek to make a political issue
of the campaign against drugs. I am as prepared to work with
a Labor Premier of New South Wales and a Labor Premier of Queensland,
as I am to work with the Liberal Premiers of Victoria and South Australia.
This is an issue which is above and beyond party politics. And
I was reminded the other day that in the first speech that I made
to the Federal Parliament as Leader of the Liberal Party, I argued
that fighting drugs should be something that transcended the political
divide within the Australian community. And I'm very pleased
that many of the initiatives I've launched, and many of the views
that I've expressed on these issues are very directly echoed and supported
by both Mr Carr, the Premier of New South Wales, and Mr Beattie the
Premier of Queensland, and indeed in many respects, by the Leader
of the Opposition Mr Beazley.
But ladies and gentlemen, I'm very pleased indeed to launch the particular
programme which will provide additional counselling facilities, to
help people with a drug and alcohol problem. I congratulate
the mission. It's a magnificent example of the sort of organisation
that ought to be supported by the 'Tough on Drugs' strategy, and it
is a living proof of the need for that social coalition between the
Federal government, the State governments, the business community,
the welfare sector, and families who are concerned to help their members
and indeed to help their friends who are suffering from the scourge
of drug addiction. I thank the mission for having me here today
and I congratulate it most warmly and most generously on the humanitarian
work that it is undertaking.
[ends]