Rev Nile on the Money regarding Costs of Alcohol, Tobacco and Illegal Drugs

Friday 11th April 2008

The Rev Fred Nile, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has been shown to have been on the money with regard to the costs of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs to Australian society. A Federal Government report recently stated that abuse of the substances had cost the nation $56 billion. Rev Nile, having previously introduced a raft of related Bills intended to address the problem, recently urge the State Government to take action during question time in Parliament.

Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: I ask the Leader of the House, representing the Premier, a question without notice.

• Did the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, release a report that claims that the financial toll of alcohol, cigarettes and illegal drugs exceeds Australia's annual health budget, costing the nation more than $56 billion a year in health costs, lost production, crime, accidents, et cetera?
• Did the report claim that cigarettes accounted for $31.5 billion, alcohol $15.3 billion and illegal drugs $8.2 billion?
• What action will the Government take in its policies and budget to combat those social evils in view of those alarming figures?

The Hon. John Della Bosca: The member would be aware already that there is an elaborate process, a series of services, funded by the Government's drug and alcohol services right across the public network. Almost all of those are funded through the NSW Health budget. Also, there is a network of non-government organisations that are funded through the Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care and the Department of Community Services. Indeed some are funded by the Department of Education and Training and other line agencies involved in dealing with issues around drug and alcohol. I think the member is very much aware that many of the issues taken in relation to drugs in the follow-up to our Drug Summit some years ago, and the knock-on policies that have occurred in New South Wales as well as throughout the Commonwealth and in other jurisdictions as a result of that policy revision, have resulted in very favourable outcomes relative to previously existing trends. So we have obviously had some success with illicit drugs.

The member is asking about so-called licit drugs: tobacco and alcohol. The member is already aware, I think these days most people probably accept this, that the tobacco smoking habit is very much on the way out. A great deal of official effort goes into discouraging people from taking up the smoking habit as well as getting people to desist from the smoking habit. This is backed up by many initiatives coming out of clinical services. The marketing of pharmaceutical items for anti-smoking products is quite significant. In regard to that part of the member's question about smoking, what is being done by the New South Wales Government and the Commonwealth, at all levels I think, are self-evident. There is a fair bit of evidence on that, despite occasional trendlines that go the wrong way. It was found recently that young women were taking up smoking to an alarming degree, and the policy was adjusted to take account of that. In that regard I think there is once again a downward trend. We are getting some good outcomes in relation to tobacco. We are getting some very good outcomes overall in relation to illicit drugs, although it remains a problem that we have to deal with.