June 9, 2024
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CLINT STANAWAY: This morning we are shining a light on the cocaine industry.
JAYNE AZZOPARDI: Australians on average spend $3.5 million each day on this drug, with as many as one in eight people who are aged between 18 and 24 using the substance. That makes our country one of the highest consumers in the world.
STANAWAY: So this shock data revealed this morning in a new international investigation, Cocaine Inc. And for more, we're joined by Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson in Melbourne. Senator, good to see you, thanks for your time. Firstly, to these numbers: does this research surprise you?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Good morning. Look, I'd like to say yes, but the truth is no. Cocaine use has become normalised in certain social circles, at least in Australia, particularly during the pandemic and particularly in Melbourne and other cities that had extended lockdowns where for people in certain high paying professions it became kind of a routine way to get through it. There’s nothing good about a habit like this. Not for you. Not for your family. Not for your country.
AZZOPARDI: I mean, we talk about a cost-of-living crisis, but the supply of cocaine is at its highest level in 30 years, and Australia has some of the world's highest prices, and it's not deterring people. Why do you think that is?
PATERSON: Look, it's not a cheap habit at all, and we're an expensive destination for a product like this because we're a very wealthy country, and there are people who do have the capacity to pay for it, but also because we're an island nation. We have a great national asset in not having to share a border with any other country, and a land border is much more permeable and vulnerable than an ocean border. So, we do have the ability to stop a lot of the drugs that come in, and that means if you're a drug importer you have to sell your drugs for a much higher price to still make a profit knowing you're going to lose some of it along way, and that's why it's so expensive.
STANAWAY: In terms of reaction from Border Force, they say that while cocaine detections are on the increase, organised crime cartels are actually trying to exploit our large coastline. You mentioned a bit of the geographic detail there, but why is that such a large concern and what can be done?
PATERSON: Well, what you have to remember about these cartels is that they’re highly sophisticated and much more like a multinational corporation than your traditional criminal organisation. They have accountants, they have lawyers, they have chief financial officers, they have HR directors, and they have a lot of people working on the logistics of this business, and they find very ingenious ways of getting drugs into our country. They do bribe customs and border officials, they do bribe police, and they're also innovating in ways like putting their drugs underneath the hulls of ships - welding them underneath the hulls of ships - and then sending divers out to collect them before they come into port as a way of evading that port scrutiny. So, we've got to get a lot better too. We’ve got to use technology to scan enough of the incoming freight to make sure that we're identifying this.
AZZOPARDI: I mean, we're always see those stories on the news, don't we, about there's been a big drug bust, the AFP have got people in there, secreting the cocaine inside milk containers or something crazy like that. But now we're hearing that they only reckon about 25% of the drug is being seized. The rest is getting out there. What kind of impact does it have on our communities?
PATERSON: Well, that's right, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission does wastewater testing to pick up elements of this in the water supply. So they know people are using it, that's how we have a good idea about it. But they're sending so much drugs to us in so many different ways that some of it unfortunately gets through, and we’ve got to fund our police and our border force adequately with the technology that they need to get it, because otherwise it is doing real harm in our communities and our suburbs.
AZZOPARDI: Senator James Paterson, thank you for joining us this morning.
ENDS
