Recent revelations that the Labor government deliberately went ‘quietly’ with proposed radical drug laws, and new concerns raised by ACT police, interstate police, Australian Border Force and local GP’s means the proposed changes to drug laws should be pushed back to at least after the election, according to the Canberra Liberals.

“This was always terrible policy,” said Shadow Minister for Police, Jeremy Hanson. “It is reckless, it is dangerous and it should never have been pushed through without the support of the community and the stakeholders.

“Now, we have heard secret recordings of the Health Minister boasting about how they ‘quietly’ snuck it through, then used dodgy process in the Assembly to avoid scrutiny and comment.

“Even more concerning are the comments from police saying that, when they once would intervene if they witnessed someone using drugs, they wouldn’t be doing that now.

“We have both the AFP and Border Force saying they prefer a staged, co-ordinated process. And we have a GP who has openly said:

“At the coal face, we have absolutely no chance of getting these people into programs. That is where the system will let these people down.”

“The fact is the government does not have a mandate for this policy, and does not have support from major stakeholders.

“There is no pressing need to ram these laws through, except to avoid public scrutiny. But there is every reason to delay and get a mandate from the people, and to ensure that stakeholders are prepared,” concluded Mr Hanson.