The Government’s new national taskforce on the drug ice will prioritise areas in rural and regional Australia, Health Minister Sussan Ley said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched the taskforce yesterday, which will be headed by former Victorian Police commissioner Ken Lay and will coordinate local, state and federal efforts against the use, sale, manufacture and importation of the drug.
The taskforce will develop a national ice action strategy and deliver an interim report to Mr Abbott by the middle of the year.
Ms Ley, who represents the seat of Farrer in the New South Wales’ far west, said the taskforce would pay special attention to the problem in country Australia.
“The unfortunate situation we find ourselves in with ice in so many rural and regional communities will be made very clear to this taskforce, and in producing a national response,” she said.
“We know that we must include, in fact give priority to, rural, regional and remote Australia.
“Unless we get the right information to begin with, we won’t come up with the right response.”
Meanwhile, Victorian Mental Health Minister Martin Foley cautiously welcomed the move but warned the issue would not be easily solved.
It follows the Victorian Government’s own $45 million action plan which includes new tough laws to punish manufacturers and dealers of methamphetamines.
Mr Foley said there needed to be a united approach.
“The ice scourge that is ravaging so many communities is not something that can be dealt with overnight,” he said.
“It needs [a] sustained, whole-of-government, whole-of-community effort to deal with it.”