Gallagher Martin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Gallagher Martin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:619;Page:14808] 
12.  
MARTIN GALLAGHER (Labour—Hamilton West) 
 to the  
Minister of Customs 
: Is he concerned at the increase of drug seizures at the borders? 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister of Customs) 
: 
 Yes I am but the increase was to be expected. The Government signalled early on that it would take a hard line against the supply of drugs. Additional resources have been allocated to the police and $17 million has been allocated to the Institute of Environmental Science and Research to close the laboratories that manufacture P inside New Zealand. 
It was expected that the importation of illegal drugs would put more pressure at the border so additional funding of nearly $2 million was allocated in the 2003-04 Budget for Customs Service staff to be assigned to drug enforcement. These staff are now fully engaged at the border. As the recent seizure of crystal methamphetamine with a street value of about $9 million shows they are having an effect. 
Martin Gallagher 
: What other initiatives are being taken by the Government to deal with the illegal drugs trade? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The Government allocated an additional $39 million in this year’s Budget to tackle the methamphetamine trade in organised crime over the next 4 years. As part of the Government’s action plan on alcohol and illicit drugs my colleague the Hon Jim Anderton announced $14.65 million for initiatives aimed at reducing the demand for drugs. Stripping gangs and other organised crime groups of their assets will take the profit out of crime. 
Shane Ardern 
: Will the Minister talk to the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues about reports that state that New Zealand because of this Labour Government’s benign approach to refugees is seen as a soft touch for drug smugglers and the importation of methamphetamine; if not why not? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: No one believes that New Zealand is a soft touch for the importation of illegal drugs. The amount of drugs we have been catching at the border has gone up substantially. We have been intercepting and helping other countries to intercept drugs that have been going through New Zealand. The record of the New Zealand Customs Service is exemplary on every front. No one believes what that member asserts—not at all. 
Ron Mark 
: When will this Government announce an all-out assault on gangs and organised crime which are at the heart of these drug-smuggling operations and methamphetamine production and does the Minister seriously believe that an introduction of $39 million over 4 years will make a serious dent in the methamphetamine trade which is currently estimated at $400 million per annum? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: The member knows that we have increased the tariff for committing these crimes. It is now a High Court case. People can be subject to much longer sentences and they will be. We are making other changes. We are catching people at a record rate. Other members complain about the number of people appearing before the courts. One of the reasons they are before the courts is that they have been caught on drug-related crimes. The Government is being very successful. 
Marc Alexander 
: Does the Minister agree that if a local methamphetamine laboratory can turn a $20 packet of Sudafed or Telfast into $1000 worth of the drug then targeting local manufacturing is really the key in combating P; if not can he explain why the P epidemic continues to be in his words “the single biggest illicit drug problem facing New Zealand” despite increases in seizures at our borders? 
Hon RICK BARKER 
: There are two problems in the drug trade—one is supply and the other is demand. The Government is operating on the supply end at the New Zealand internal level by police action against clan-labs etc and in making sure the border is not porous and stopping drugs getting across the border. On the other side we have to educate the public that if they say no to drugs there will be no demand for them. It is up to individuals communities and all of us to say that this will be a drug-free country. When we do that there will be no illegal drug supply.