Election 2022: Attack on Anthony Albanese drug comments an act of ‘desperation’

Anthony Albanese has defended his record on decriminalising illicit drugs and supporting safe injecting rooms.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Anthony Albanese has defended his record on decriminalising illicit drugs and supporting safe injecting rooms after the Coalition warned he would team up with the Greens and put the war on ice, ­cocaine and heroin at risk.

The Opposition Leader ­accused Scott Morrison of “political desperation” after Home ­Affairs Minister Karen Andrews claimed Mr Albanese would green-light the decriminalisation of drug trafficking offences in ­negotiations to “form a Labor-Greens government”.

Mr Albanese told The Australian comments he made as Labor’s junior family and community services spokesman in the late 1990s on the effects of zero tolerance on drugs and heroin trials were uncontroversial and backed by then Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett and the Australian Medical Association.

The pre-election attack on Mr Albanese came after Labor MP Alicia Payne in February called for the decriminalisation of drugs as an “important tool in our battle against the damaging effects of ­illicit drugs”, including ice, heroin, speed, cocaine and ecstasy.

Mr Albanese, who said he didn’t agree with Ms Payne and that his “position on those issues is very clear”, told parliament in 1997 that “drug use by individuals is a health issue, not a criminal issue”.

“Whilst we continue to argue … that we can run a campaign based on ‘just say no’, we will continue to fail. It is an issue on which politicians should be providing some leadership,” Mr Albanese told parliament.

At the height of debate over heroin trials and zero tolerance on drugs in 1999, Mr Albanese said the Wood royal commission recommended safe injecting rooms and warned “you need to break that link between the criminal ­industry and drug users”.

In another speech that year, Mr Albanese said “it is simplistic to say that decriminalising illicit drugs, sanctioning safe injecting rooms or undertaking heroin trials send youth the wrong message”.

“To my mind, the sort of message it sends out is that drug dependence is a medical not a criminal problem and that the community is prepared to explore as many ways as it can to deal with this problem.”

Ms Andrews told The Australian Mr Albanese’s historic positions on drugs and pressure from Labor’s left faction and the Greens could put communities at risk.

“If you want to be prime minister of this country, you can’t be soft when it comes to the illegal drug trade,” Ms Andrews said.

“Under the Morrison government, decriminalising drug-­trafficking offences will never be up for negotiation, but clearly it’s the first chip Anthony Albanese would put on the table in his negotiations to form a Labor-Greens government.”

Mr Albanese said “in 1999 there was a national debate about the scourge of heroin abuse, which led to the creation of a safe injecting room in Sydney, which has ­operated since then under Liberal and Labor governments”.

“It is a sign of Mr Morrison’s political desperation that his best contribution to public debate ahead of next month’s election is just to make things up about me, rather than address real issues that face Australians, such as the cost of living, wage stagnation, job ­insecurity and the skills crisis,” he told The Australian.

Ms Andrews said seizures of drugs including amphetamines, MDMA, cannabis, cocaine and heroin increased by 45 per cent to 38.5 tonnes in the last financial year. “Illicit drugs fuel organised crime, misery, the breakdown of marriages, relationships and friendships. Illicit drugs fuel the destruction of local communities,” she said.