Full transcript - Final - Queensland Parliament - Queensland ...

300 Ministerial Statement 9 Mar 1999
of dealing with this problem are not working.
Make no mistake; no family is exempt from the
risk of losing a member to heroin addiction.
That is why we must think again about how we
try to prevent our young people from
becoming addicts, how we try to help addicts
and how we tackle the dealers in death.
The Leaders Forum on Drugs attended by
the Premiers on Friday, 5 March, in
Melbourne, provided an impressive bipartisan
and whole-of-Government approach to the
illegal drug trade. All leaders were
wholehearted in their search for new solutions.
We looked in detail at new approaches to:
harm minimisation; awareness and treatment;
criminal justice; research; and Government
response. I stressed the need for education to
be added to the harm minimisation framework
and for there to be an aggressive approach in
this area. This was accepted by the other
leaders.
Victoria and the ACT decided to go ahead
with heroin trials. I made it clear that I do not
support heroin trials but that Queensland
would organise a parallel trial using
buprenorphine and naltrexone with identical
arrangements where possible so that it can be
determined which of the treatments offers the
better results—and done on a clinical basis.
Both Western Australia and Queensland
voiced concern about the vast coastlines we
have and the problems that Customs has in
detecting illegal drug importations due to lack
of personnel and resources. There was no
criticism of Customs; it was simply an issue of
resources. The forum agreed to seek a
proactive role for the Australian defence forces
in protecting our coast.
In examining criminal justice options, the
forum agreed to evaluate work camp options
to focus on lifestyle, activity and discipline. But,
of course, it would have to be part of
rehabilitation. It also agreed to consider
introducing nationally the civil forfeiture of drugrelated
assets. Altogether, some 30 initiatives
were suggested for future action. Now the
Prime Minister must find the money, in our
view, to fund these proposals, and they will be
put to the meeting of Premiers with the Prime
Minister on 9 April.
It is a national problem which needs
national funding. The Commonwealth should
provide the funding for the drug trials which are
being mounted. The Prime Minister and the
Federal Government should provide funding
as well for any drug courts that go ahead and
which are currently being evaluated in
Queensland. The Commonwealth should
provide funds for treatment and rehabilitation.
I am hopeful that, at the Premiers
Conference on 9 April, there will be significant
funds forthcoming from the Commonwealth. I
table for the information of the House the
outcome of the Leaders Forum on Drugs.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
International Women's Day
Hon. P. D. BEATTIE (Brisbane Central—
ALP) (Premier) (9.37 a.m.), by leave: It is with
great pleasure that I inform the House of the
support my Government is giving to the 70th
anniversary celebrations of International
Women's Day, which was yesterday.
Yesterday, I jointly hosted with Minister Judy
Spence, on behalf of the Queensland
Government, a function at Parliament House
to celebrate the 70th anniversary of
International Women's Day in Queensland.
The special guest was writer and women's
activist Merle Thornton. Merle remarked on the
irony, saying that last time she was treated to
refreshments at Parliament House was 34
years ago, when she was lobbying to change
a law that prevented her from drinking at the
public bar of Queensland hotels simply
because she was a woman. Well, she must
have felt that she did not receive a proper
hearing, because the next day she and
colleague Ro Bogner chained themselves to
the rail of the public bar at the Regatta Hotel. It
took another 10 years of lobbying by women
such as Merle Thornton before the law was
changed and women were permitted to join
men in Queensland's public bars. Thanks in
part to these pioneering feminists,
Government attitudes to women's policy have
changed radically.
Today, I table the first Queensland
Government Annual Action Plan for Women: A
Partnership Between Women and
Government. I urge all members to read this
plan, because it commits my Government to
advancing women by listening to their ideas
and concerns. The plan outlines strategies in
eight key areas for women, including improving
safety and justice, enhancing opportunities for
women in rural and remote areas, and creating
job and business opportunities.
An important feature of the action plan is
the Premier's Council for Women, announced
yesterday. Twelve high-calibre Queensland
women have been appointed to the council,
which is now the Government's primary
advisory body on women's issues. It was
approved yesterday in Cabinet, being brought
there by the Minister. I assure members of this
House that we will be listening to that voice
and that voice will be heard.