I welcome the Federal Government’s commitment to develop a National Ice Action Strategy in consultation with states and territories.
A National Ice Taskforce, to be led by Ken Lay, will examine the issue nationally and identify a coordinated approach across the full portfolio spectrum, from health to law enforcement.
The Hodgman Liberal Government takes the use and abuse of drugs very seriously, and has made the issue of ice a priority.
That’s why, rather than sit on our hands as Labor and the Greens did, we have already taken action and reviewed drug use on the North-West where specific concerns have been raised.
We have spent time with stakeholders and engaged with the wider community.
We are immediately delivering on recommendations to upskill frontline service providers and map services across the state, particularly in the North West, to inform the development of a plan to improve services.
The Government’s Exposure Draft of the White Paper on Safe and Sustainable Clinical Services actually foreshadows the establishment of a drug and alcohol service at the Mersey Community Hospital in Tasmania’s North West, including drug and alcohol rehabilitation beds. These would complement the existing service at the North West Regional Hospital. We are also exploring options in community settings.
As we’ve said, in an ideal world we’d be able to fund more rehab beds immediately but that’s unfortunately not possible given the Labor-Green Budget mess we inherited. We have to work through the funding implications as we consider additional investments. Labor and the Greens know this, but have tried to make political sport of it in the full knowledge that we have indicated an intention to address this long-standing service gap which they left behind.
I look forward to working with our Federal counterparts to address this issue and find a way to take a coordinated approach to this national concern.