Illicit Drugs

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (14:48): Supplementary: given that since 1998's Tough on Drugs strategy there has been a bipartisan approach that has included rehabilitation, education and policing measures to take place, does the government still believe that policing music festivals, including with drug sniffer dogs, is appropriate or is the government taking the member for Fisher's prescribed policy?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (14:48): The member for Fisher, in what I thought was a very well put together article, expressed her views about how complex and how concerning—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: This is a serious topic. I would like people to understand that the member for Fisher was trying to actually have a conversation with the people of South Australia through the opportunity presented to her by the newspaper of writing an article in which she was saying, not that we should be soft on drugs—that is not what she said—and not that we should have people going around testing pills at venues to see whether the pills were safe so that the kids could be given pills. In fact, if I remember—because I read that article with a bit of interest, actually—I thought to myself, she is very clear that she is not advocating a soft on pills or soft on drugs attitude.

If people were to read the member for Fisher's contribution and read it carefully and consider what she is saying, what she's actually saying is, 'This is a very complex problem.' I think, quite surprisingly, what she is saying and what the member for Morialta asked in his question are very much in the same space: it is a multifaceted problem. It does involve health issues; it does involve education issues; it does involve policing issues.

Mr Marshall: Do you have to wind back the police?

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Nobody is suggesting winding back the police.

Mr Marshall: Except in the article.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I'm sorry—I read the article and I did not understand the member for Fisher to be saying that we should not be policing these things and we should be turning a blind eye to people supplying drugs to young people.

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I'm saying read the article as a whole, and I took the article as a whole as being supportive of the notion that the government is not an apologist for people who peddle drugs to young people. The government is not out there saying, 'We're abandoning all sense of policing these venues and we're just going to have people out there testing your pills to make sure they're okay.' The member for Fisher said nothing of the sort.