Faafoi KrisHon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Broadcasting Communications and Digital Media): Madam Chair thank you for the chance to speak to clause 4 of the member's bill which does one simple and substantive thing. It amends the principal Act and changes the penalty from two years to eight years.This is an extremely important issue for all communities. On Monday night I had a meeting in my own electorate office with four principals of the local college and the local health provider all very concerned about a sudden uplift in the use of synthetic cannabis and the effect that that is having on their communities their students and also obviously from a health perspective the medical community in our community are extremely concerned. We have seen a spike of use of psychoactive substances but also a spike in suicides from our youth. It is an issue of extreme importance to my community so it is an issue which has to be taken seriously.The point that I would like to make around clause 4 is that not one of those principals and not one of those health practitioners in the room once mentioned increasing the penalties to in any way make any significant difference to the harm that it's causing in our community—not once. They did talk about the need for more health resources in the community and more support for the schools themselves who are finding themselves having to deal with issues that they may have to see within their school-grounds. But beyond the school-grounds and the bell going off they find it very tricky to deal with. So while Mr Brown might be trying to tackle a serious issue for some time during this debate we have argued that this is not the way to deal with it. Simply increasing the penalty by six years evidence has shown is going to make little or no difference to the harm that is actually happening in our community. So while this is well-intentioned on this side of the House we seriously question why this is coming before the House in such a manner and whether or not Mr Brown has actually done any research to get hard evidence as to whether or not this is going to make a difference.I will reiterate that it is having a massive effect on our communities and is putting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities—especially young people—into the position where they're thinking of taking their lives. So this is not an issue to be sniffed at but it is an issue that if this House is going to look at how we deal and support those communities we look at and seriously resource things that are going to make a difference. So I would ask a question in and around clause 4 of Mr Brown: where's your evidence that this is actually going to make a difference? That is a question that I think my community deserves to have answered if you're seriously going to stand in the House and say this is one of the silver bullets to deal with an increasingly troubling issue in communities.What I think they do want to see is not just increasing the penalties. They do want to see a Government that's taking action on mental health they do want to see a Government that is taking action on supporting young people in our community and they do want to see a Government that is supporting vulnerable young people in our communities and I think that's where the focus of this debate needs to be: making sure we're supporting those workers in our community whether they be inside the school or out to make sure we're supporting those vulnerable young people in our communities who are extremely vulnerable and looking at self-harm and suicide and who have taken that action because of their use of psychoactive substances.So again just one simple question to Mr Brown: what evidence do you have that this is actually going to make a difference? If you stand up in the Chamber and give me some evidence I'll take it back to those four principals at my colleges who are desperate for help for their students because they've seen far too much pain over a long period of time and too much talk from politicians in this House. They want to see some serious action and serious resourcing to make sure that they can back up their commitment to looking after their students with support with a health bent not a punishment bent—because this is all we're doing here by lifting the penalty from two years to eight years.