Revolt to trigger retreat on NSW drug laws

A NSW government plan to keep drug users out of court with warning and infringement notices is set to be watered down.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian took no formal position on drugs in cabinet discussions on Monday but sought views from around the table, officials say. Picture: Joel Carrett

A controversial NSW government proposal to keep drug users out of court with warning and ­infringement notices is almost certain to be watered down, with Coalition MPs in uproar over the measure and Gladys Berejiklian urging a redraft of the plan to avoid a partyroom backlash.

Cabinet figures told The Australian that the policy, discussed in cabinet on Monday, was ­unlikely to survive in its current form due to broad opposition across the Coalition‘s conservative and moderate factions.

Several MPs have also questioned the timing of the proposal, given it was raised after parliament ended for the year, close to Christmas, and with no scheduled partyroom meetings until the new year.

Submitted by Attorney-General Mark Speakman, the policy would create a three-strikes rule for drug possession — the first offence just a warning, the second two fines.

The proposal is part of the government’s broader response to a 2018 special commission of inquiry which examined the ­social harms caused by crystal methamphetamine.

The inquiry’s report was released in February and made 109 recommendations, five of which — including increasing medically supervised injecting rooms and ceasing the use of drug dogs — were immediately ruled out.

A response to the other recommendations is expected to be delivered by the end of the year,

Supporters of Mr Speakman’s proposal, including former NSW director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery QC, say the plan would have a number of benefits and would stop less significant drug matters clogging up court lists.

But numerous Coalition MPs who spoke to The Australian on Thursday on condition of anonymity said they were weighing up options to escalate their dissatisfaction with the plan, including holding an extraordinary partyroom meeting if the proposal survives a cabinet vote in two weeks.

Others said they would cross the floor of parliament if it was ever drafted into legislation.

The Premier on Thursday said her government would not decriminalise drugs. “Drugs are a scourge on our community. We will not be decriminalising drugs in NSW. I cannot be clearer than that,” she said.

Officials familiar with the cabinet discussions on Monday said Ms Berejiklian took no formal position but sought views from around the table.

She then deferred the matter to December 14, telling Mr Speakman and Health Minister Brad Hazzard, joint sponsors of the proposal, to revise the policy.

“It was the view of the Premier that more work needed to be done as to how we sell the policy as one we could live with … I’m not sure it will ever get to that point.”

Within cabinet, the policy was supported by some but opposed by the majority of ministers, said the official familiar with the discussion. “A lot of people spoke against it,” they said, adding that there were concerns that some people would use the leniency of the policy to “game the system”.

“It should have been dealt with months ago when we were all in parliament,” said one Liberal MP.

“To bring it on just before Christmas — people are just irate. It’s a massive shift from our party and our base — we’ve never been the party of decriminalising drugs. People are prepared to cross the floor.”

The special commission of ­inquiry, led by Dan Howard SC, recommended a significant ­reframing of the state’s approach to treating and policing illicit substances, including decriminalising their possession and use.

Mr Cowdery, a member of the inquiry’s expert panel, said he would back the government’s proposal as a modest step towards decriminalisation, which he supports. Mr Cowdery said this change in tactic required a “mental shift” on how we view the use of drugs, namely that it forms a routine part of life for a large number of people.

“All the other states and territories have schemes that are very similar to this sort of idea,” Mr Cowdery said. “What we have to do is put in place policies that address the harms that may come from that. What we need are policies that do not increase the harm by putting criminal sanctions on top of the harms already caused.”

NSW effectively decriminalised cannabis possession in 2000 through its Cannabis Cautioning Scheme, which gave police the discretion to issue warnings ­rather than charges if people were caught with small amounts of the drug.

In 2018 this was expanded for music festivals, allowing for penalty infringement notices to be ­issued to revellers carrying small amounts of any drug.