Question Time

Ice Addiction

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police—

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire interjecting:

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: —not you, the Minister for Police—a question about illicit drugs in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Former premier Mike Rann announced in the lead-up to the 2002 election that he would hold a drug summit, if elected. Following the summit, he then said the government had fulfilled an electoral promise to hold such a forum, and that did not mean the government would accept the decisions arising from the forum. He made it clear that proposals which did not fit with ALP policy would not be accepted.

There is perhaps no worse drug than ice. What ice can do to a person, a family and community is well documented. Unfortunately, according to the final report of the National Ice Taskforce 2015, South Australia had the second highest proportion of people using ice at 1.4 per cent, compared to the national average of 1.1 per cent. That is nearly 40 per cent higher than the national average. Further, according to the findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System into SA drug trends in 2013, it was reported that the most common use of methamphetamine was ice/crystal at 57 per cent, followed by speed at 40 per cent, and then base at 31 per cent. It also reported significant increases in the median number of days in which they used ice. In 2013, participants used:

powder on a median of 48 days, compared to 13 days in 2012. That is a 35-day increase in a matter of about a year;

base on a median of 48 days, compared to 12 days in 2012; and

amphetamine liquid also increased to a median of 24 days (versus five days in 2012).

Yesterday, in answer to a question from the Hon. Dennis Hood on this issue, the minister rattled off a few statistics and gave a very general flavour of what SAPOL has done—to use the minister's words. The honourable member must realise now, as minister going forward, he is ultimately responsible for this issue. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the minister doing to reduce the consumption of ice in South Australia?

2. What specific initiatives has the minister established under his watch to tackle this overwhelming and insidious problem?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:25): I thank the honourable member for his question. He is right about my reference to my answer to the Hon. Mr Hood's question the other day regarding drug use generally. Let me be a bit more specific regarding the drug that the Hon. Mr Ridgway has referred to, in respect of ice. I share his concern around ice consumption. Ice is well recognised as being a particularly insidious drug that is consumed all too much within the community at the moment.

Let me go about informing the Hon. Mr Ridgway regarding what work SAPOL is currently doing in respect of ice specifically and then I will answer the second part of his question. In August 2014 the police started Operation Atlas in response to the prevalence of all methylamphetamines throughout South Australia including the drug ice. As at the end of September last year, Operation Atlas had:

seized almost seven kilograms of methylamphetamine and 6,000 ecstasy tablets;

made 272 arrests;

had over 1,600 positive drug-driver detections; and

uncovered 30 drug labs.

SAPOL is working with the Attorney-General on legislative responses aimed at:

reducing the diversion of chemicals used in drug production;

reviewing laws involving the trafficking of precursor chemicals; and

enhancing sentencing provisions to protect children from exposure to clandestine illicit drug laboratories and other forms of drug manufacture often established in domestic premises.

SAPOL is also working closely with Australian customs and border police force (as I also referred to the other day) and has also increased the targeting and amount of drug-driving tests conducted.

The National Ice Taskforce was established in April 2015. The report was handed down in December last year and outlined 36 recommendations. A number of those recommendations are of particular interest to SAPOL including:

funding for up to 220 new community drug action teams;

the development of new evidence-based online resources and targeted communication activities;

the international supply disruption strategy to strengthen cooperation with key source and transit countries;

greater national consistency on controls on precursor chemicals and equipment used to manufacture ice, including the development of a national electronic end user declaration system;

the pilot of infrastructure to inform the enhancement of intelligence sharing by development of a national crime intelligence system;

continued work on a national cooperative scheme on unexplained wealth;

a national Dob in a Dealer campaign to encourage public reporting on drug manufacture and distribution within the community. I understand that has been successful;

disruption of the supply of ice into regional and remote communities;

a national review of drug diversionary programs to inform best practice approaches; and

increasing the quality of population data on illicit drugs and expanding data collection monitoring alcohol and other drug misuse and overdoses to assist with early detection of emerging drug trends.

That is just an insight into the work that SAPOL is currently undertaking regarding illicit drug use, and specifically ice. Regarding government policy, things that are in the sphere of influence of the minister as distinct from the operational concerns day to day from the police commissioner, what is this government doing?

At the top of the list is making sure that SAPOL has all the resources that it possibly needs to be able to get on with the job. We all know, from remarks that I have made previously in this chamber, that this government's track record in investing in SAPOL to make sure that it has the resources that it needs to be able to keep our communities safe so that it can focus on ongoing and new challenges, including the ice epidemic around our nation, is that we are providing SAPOL with all the resources that it needs. For instance, we have made sure that SAPOL has more police than ever before. We have made sure that the police budget is larger than ever before.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Only when we have a state government that is committed to community safety as much as this one is, are we making sure—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: 40 per cent above the national average. It's a disgrace.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: —that SAPOL has the resources it needs to be able to make the operational decisions that it needs to make to be able to ensure they are addressing the challenges in regard to drug consumption. I have outlined a comprehensive strategy that SAPOL has to deal with the drug issue here in South Australia. It is of concern to any member of the community, particularly those with young children who are becoming more challenged by the issue of drug use as they become older. Any member of the community is concerned about the statistics that the Hon. Mr Ridgway refers to. That is exactly why we need to make sure that we support SAPOL in having the resources that it needs to be able to get on with the job. And I am very proud that this government is doing that and I am very confident it will continue to do it into the future.