ABF commissioner will meet with Portuguese counterparts ahead of ACT decriminalising drugs

ABF commissioner Michael Outram will meet with his Portuguese counterparts to discuss the impact of drug decriminalisation.

Australian Border Force commissioner Michael Outram. Picture: Julian Andrews

Australian Border Force commissioner Michael Outram will meet with his Portuguese counterparts to discuss the impact of drug decriminalisation, as the ACT prepares to scrap criminal charges for the possession of small amounts of ice, heroin, cocaine and other substances.

Portugal decriminalised illicit substances in 2001 and while drug use initially fell, the rate of drug abuse and overdose has increased again in recent years.

Overdose rates have now hit 12-year highs and almost doubled in Lisbon between 2019 and 2023, ­according to reports.

The move comes as the Attorney-General’s Department and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions revealed on Tuesday they were not consulted by the ACT government over its softening of drug laws.

An ACT government spokeswoman said Territory officials discussed the reform process “on a number of occasions with commonwealth officials”.

“The ACT government has worked closely with ACT Policing throughout the legislative process and subsequently through the 12 month implementation period, as well as experts across the ACT and Australia,” she said.

“In addition, the Legislative Assembly established a Select Committee on the Drugs of Dependence (Personal Use) Amend­ment Bill 2021. The committee received 59 submissions, 778 responses to an online survey and held five days of public hearings. It was open to the commonwealth to participate in this process.”

ABF national operations deputy commissioner Tim Fitzgerald said the use of illicit drugs did “significant social harm”.

“We are examining what impact if any decriminalisation will have on the border … but based on current seizure data, we won’t see any decrease in attempts to traffic illicit drugs into this country,” he told a joint parliamentary committee on law enforcement.

Mr Fitzgerald said 75 to 80 per cent of illicit drugs being trafficked were getting across the Australian border.

The ABF confirmed Mr Outram would meet virtually with customs counterparts from Portugal “over the coming weeks”.

“The purpose of the meeting with Portuguese authorities will be to discuss several matters including drug importation trends and the impacts of decriminalisation of illicit substances,” an ABF spokesman said.

The Police Association of NSW told the law enforcement committee decriminalising or legalising illicit drugs including ice, heroin or MDA “cannot be achieved safely under current ­circumstances”.

“Decriminalisation creates too many practical difficulties for police officers to implement policy, and there are inadequately designed and resourced diversionary programs,” it said.

“At this stage, we do not believe a threshold has been met whereby community members can be kept safe through a process of decriminalising or legalising ­illicit ‘hard’ drugs, including amphetamines, heroin, cocaine and MDMA. Hard drugs cause enormous amounts of harm to society, and the PANSW believes any move to make (them) easier to use will create further problems.”