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LIBERAL candidate for Ripon Louise Staley welcomed Attorney General Robert Clark to Ararat to discuss how the Napthine Government is acting to tackle Ice use and dealing.
"The Napthine Government has already taken strong action against Ice dealers led by Attorney General Robert Clark so I was very pleased to welcome him here to Ararat to discuss these latest initiatives," Ms Staley said.
The Coalition has announced it will introduce three new law enforcement measures to help tackle this scourge:
Giving Victoria Police the power to test persons for illicit drugs when they have been arrested for an indictable offence and are suspected of being under the influence of an illegal drug
Mandatory drug screening for offenders on Community Correction Orders for offenders involving ice.
Halving the quantities of ice at which automatic forfeiture provisions apply and which are deemed to be commercial or large commercial quantities attracting tougher penalties.
"Halving the quantity of Ice deemed to be dealer quantities will take drug dealers off the streets and make our community safer," Ms Staley said.
"Unlike other dangerous drugs, Ice can be made locally, and this change will mean any local Ice manufacturers and dealers will face harsher penalties."
A re-elected Napthine Coalition Government will legislate to give police the power to require any person who has been arrested in relation to an indictable offence to undergo a drug screening test where police suspect that person is under the influence of an illegal drug. As with random drug testing of drivers, it will be an offence to refuse to take this test. Positive test results may be used as evidence to support charges for drug use.
"Providing police with the power to drug test persons arrested for serious crimes will help police to act more quickly on related offending, " Mr Clark said.
"It will also ensure the drug use is dealt with by the court in sentencing the offender and in ordering measures for the offenders to address their drug use as part of their sentence."
A Coaliton government will also make it mandatory for any offender convicted of ice use who is placed on a CCO to undergo drug screening as a condition of the CCO.
Where screening shows an offender has used ice while on the CCO, the CCO will have been breached and the offender will be returned to court to be dealt with for the breach and to be resentenced for the original offence.
"Mandatory drug screening will significantly enhance community protection by helping to deter further drug use and associated offending," Mr Clark said.
"Having offenders on CCOs knowing they are being screened for any further use, together with the other supports available to them under the CCO, will also help them to break their habit and turn away from further offending."
A re-elected Napthine Coalition Government will also halve the quantity of ice that triggers the automatic forfeiture of property used in trafficking or acquired with the proceeds of the crime, reducing the quantity from 30 grams to 15 grams.
As well, the amounts of ice deemed to be commercial and large commercial quantities will also be halved. In future, 500 grams of ice will be deemed a large commercial quantity, rendering anyone trafficking that amount of ice liable to forfeit almost everything they own upon conviction, whether lawfully acquired or not, and liable to an average jail term of 14 years under the Coalition's baseline sentencing reforms and a maximum of life.
The quantity of ice deemed a commercial quantity will also be reduced from 500 grams to 250 grams, rendering a trafficker liable to up to 25 years in jail.
"Given the ability of traffickers to manufacture ice locally and in smaller quantities, the current quantities make it too easy for traffickers to dodge the jail terms and asset forfeiture they deserve," Mr Clark said.
"These changes will mean that more serious charges will apply to more offenders who manufacture or traffick in ice, rendering them liable for tougher penalties and asset confiscation.
"These changes will further reduce the profit motive that drives ice manufacture and trafficking, and make it easier for police to disrupt organised criminal enterprises in Victoria.
A re-elected Napthine Coalition Government will bring legislation into Parliament to enact these reforms in 2015.