DAVID BRADBURY:
It's good to be with you all in sunny St Marys. I can announce today that I will be introducing an interim product safety ban, a national ban, on 19 synthetic drugs. This will be a ban that will effect 19 drugs and will be in place for a period of up to 120 days. It is an important part of our approach to ensuring that we reduce access to these very dangerous drugs.
Can I say from the outset, that whilst product safety laws can play an important part in our fight against drugs, on their own they are not the most effective way of tackling the problem of drugs, and in particular synthetic drugs. Whilst this ban will assist in ensuring that any of these 19 products can be removed from any shelves they are currently on, we should remember that these are the same laws that we normally use to remove dodgy toys and dodgy products from shelves. They are of the themselves not the most effective way of tackling the supply and distribution of drugs.
At the national level, we have, through the Therapeutic Goods Administration, listed a number of chemical compounds on the poisons schedule. Now, through the poisons standard we have a mechanism at the national level where States and Territories can adopt that standard and in doing so ensure that each and every one of these drugs, and indeed thousands of other drugs, will not only be the subject of product safety bans but will be criminal. And the importance of ensuring that criminal sanctions apply to this sort of activity is paramount. To emphasise this point, I make a couple of points. Firstly, I don't think anyone seriously believes that our consumer protection officials should in fact be the ones who are on the front line of our war against drugs. In fact, it should be criminal law enforcement agencies, and indeed, if people are apprehended having been involved in the sale and distribution of these drugs, it's not good enough, I believe, to simply be open to having a fine slapped on them, but they should be subject to the full force of the criminal laws. Indeed, frankly, I believe that the people involved in the sale and distribution of these drugs should be locked up. To be sure that criminal sanctions apply and the full force of the law apply in these cases, it's not good enough that we simply have a product safety ban in place, but we need those jurisdictions that have not yet implemented the national poisons standard, to do so immediately. I note that New South Wales and the Northern Territory, I am advised that those two jurisdictions, New South Wales and the Northern Territory, have not yet adopted the poisons standard. I urge the New South Wales Government and the Northern Territory Government to do so as a matter of urgency to ensure that these drugs can be treated in the same way as any other illicit drugs are treated. In doing so, I would also make the point that a New South Wales Parliamentary Committee has already recommended this year that the New South Wales Parliament act to adopt the poisons standard. I note that they've failed to do so and it's in lieu of that that I am introducing an interim ban to ensure that over the next period of 120 days the New South Wales and Northern Territory Governments can act to adopt the poisons standard to make sure that these drugs are subject to the full force of the criminal law.
JOURNALIST:
What will this Federal product safety ban do differently to that which was put in place last weekend by the New South Wales Government. It's a similar 90 day ban on these particular substances, and given that other States had signed up to this national standard, what will this extra ban do?
BRADBURY:
This ban is in identical terms to the ban that has been put in place by New South Wales. Obviously with New South Wales moving to put this ban in place, fair trading officers have been able to remove some of those products from the shelves here in New South Wales. I'm advised that there continues to be gaps, in particular in relation to the Northern Territory. While there hasn't been any evidence to suggest that these products have been found in the Northern Territory, our national ban will ensure that, from a consumer protection perspective, these products cannot be sold in stores right around the country. But I do acknowledge that most jursdictions have already adopted the poisons standard; I call upon New South Wales and the Northern Territory in particular to do the same to ensure that, as we move forward, that residents here in New South Wales have the comfort of knowing that these drugs, which are just as dangerous, just slightly different in their synthetic compound structure, that they are outlawed and that anyone involved in the sale and distribution of these drugs should be subject to the full force of the criminal laws.
JOURNALIST:
Has New South Wales just been lazy not updating their drug laws, I mean you're giving them a 120 days - just trying to rule out the time factor?
BRADBURY:
Look the 120 days is the maximum period under which the legislation allows me to make a ban of this sort. That involves a period of extensions. But, can I make the point that the one thing these two jurisdictions, in particular New South Wales and the Northern Territory, the one thing that they can do to ensure that the residents of their States and Territories have the same protection as everyone else in the country is to do what they've already indicated they are likely to do and adopt the national poisons standard. Here in New South Wales, the Parliamentary Committee earlier in the year already called on the New South Wales Government to do that. All good and well to run up and down the street for photo opportunities with fair trading officials, frankly as a resident of this State I would feel a lot more safe knowing that these drugs were subject to the criminal laws so that anyone apprehended as a result of the sale and distribution should be locked up and the key thrown away, rather than having the fair trading officials going in there and taking the products off. Fines will hurt people, but frankly people involved in this sort of activity, they should be subject to the full force of the criminal law.
JOURNALIST:
What's being done to stop the sale of these products via international websites [inaudible].
BRADBURY:
That is a good point and clearly this product safety ban will affect the sale of items that are occurring through an online channel. That can be more difficult in terms of prosecutions obviously but this ban does apply in relation to those matters. Can I make a couple of points that really emphasise why it is so important that New South Wales adopt the poisons standard and make sure they have effective criminal laws in place to tackle these drugs. The first one is that we have listed, in the same way as New South Wales has, 19 drugs, but we have to list them by name. So that simply means that the characters who are selling these drugs simply go and change the name, then the ban is no longer effective. The other point I would make is that I am advised that there are thousands of these products currently availale for sale over the internet that have different names. Now, by adopting the poisons standard, which lists according to their chemical compound, not their name, by adopting that standard New South Wales will be able to ensure that these drugs are prohibited from a criminal law perspective and they will be subject to full investigation and prosecution by law enforcement agencies, and ultimately if we catch the people involved in the sale and distribution of these drugs at least we will have the powers to take some real action, and that means criminal sanctions.
JOURNALIST:
Isn't it the case that some of the manufacturers of these drugs just change the chemical compounds by one ingredient and get away from these bans?
BRADBURY:
And that is a good point, and that is why we have to be ever vigilant and ever flexible in the way in which we pursue these matters. I'd just inform you of the fact that under the national arrangements for the poisons standard is a very flexible mechanism available to update that standard. But what's important is, we can update that standard at the national level but unless every State and Territory has agreed to legislative enactment to automatically adopt that standard in their own drugs misuse laws then the protection that that offers is constrained and limited. So the point here is, yes it's an ongoing battle, we have to continually change the poisons standard to continually keep up with the changing compounds but it is much more difficult for the purveyors of these products to change the chemical compound than it is to change the name, and in fact that is what they can do to avoid product safety bans. So, this is an interim measure; I call upon New South Wales to act immediately, to adopt the poisons standard, as recommended by their own Parliamentary Committee, to make sure that the people of New South Wales have the same protections against these drugs as people of other States.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
BRADBURY: If the suggestion is that we should allow this to be subject to a permanent ban I just want to make it clear to you that these product safety laws are used to get dodgy products off the shelf, so if I find out there's a toy that's got a loose or moving part, I can take action to get that product off the shelf. Is anyone seriously suggesting that these product safety laws should be at the forefront of our war against drugs? It's ludicrous. I know lots of consumer protection officials and they're lovely people, but they don't go into shops with guns and they don't have all of the back up that our law enforcement officials need. The sale and distribution of these drugs - it's organized crime. This is not about some producer of a product that has made a mistake and produced a product that is substandard, these are drugs that are killing people. They should be subject to the full force of the criminal laws and if stepping in and putting this national ban in place on an interim basis allows us to at least get some of the drugs off the shelves, to the extent that that's the case, until such time as the States adopt the national standard, then so be it. But let's be honest about what this is. It's not the most effective way of tackling the problem and I call on New South Wales to do what it's own Parliamentary Committee recommended and that is to adopt the national poison standard. If they did that, then those drugs would already be illegal.
JOURNALIST:
Just on some other matters, we're heading into the final two sitting weeks. There's constant leadership speculation. Does the Prime Minister still have your support?
BRADBURY:
Yes she does. I support Julia Gillard. I know there's polls, there's speculation, there's all these sorts of things. I am not going to speculate on the polls, I am not going to speculate on the speculation. But what I can be absolutely clear about is that I support Julia Gillard.
JOURNALIST:
You hold your seat by a very slim margin though, are you confident you can hold onto it with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister heading into the election?
BRADBURY:
My future is in the hands of the people of Lindsay. I have never taken their support for granted. I was out doorknocking most of the afternoon yesterday, and that's what I've been doing for most of the 14 years I've been representing our community; delivering many things for our community but most importantly being an effective local Member. Can I make one additional point on the local scene. I held a rally last week in relation to the State Government's plans to ship out radioactive waste from a site in Hunters Hill out to Kemps Creek in my electorate. This is an issue of enormous concern to people in my community. It might not be as sexy to some as polls and leadership speculation but I can tell you that Mr O'Farrell has broken a key election commitment he made in relation to this radioactive waste [AUDIO CUTS OUT]