Senator CHRIS EVANS (Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (2:45 PM) —My question is directed to Senator Coonan in her capacity as Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer the minister to Senator Ellison’s answer to a question last week about the record levels of opium production in Afghanistan. Is the minister aware that the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Mr Antonio Maria Costa, has now called on NATO forces to use military action to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan, particularly in the south of the country? Has either the UN or the Afghan government made approaches to Australia to request our assistance in those efforts to eradicate the crop? What is the government’s policy on the use of military action to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan?

Senator COONAN (Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —I thank Senator Evans for the question. It is certainly a very important matter that he raised. Opium cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan is of course a major threat to the future stability and security of the country. That is why we take a very serious view of it. Australia does support the Afghanistan government’s national drug control strategy and efforts to curtail the narcotics industry.

At the London conference for the signing of the Afghanistan compact on 30 January this year, Mr Downer committed Australia to spending up to $150 million over five years, subject to the Afghan government’s performance against benchmarks contained in the compact. Counter-narcotics is a priority issue of the Afghanistan compact and an important component of Australia’s continuing development assistance to Afghanistan.

I should say on behalf of the minister that Australia is currently providing $4.5 million in direct support of counter-narcotic efforts in Afghanistan and this includes $2 billion to the UNDP Counter-Narcotics Trust Fund to support alternative livelihoods, which of course is a critical issue if you are trying to look at stemming narcotics in Afghanistan, and another $2 million in joint funding with the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research to improve wheat and maize productivity to provide alternative economic livelihoods. So it is a matter that this government takes very seriously. I am aware that Mr Downer has taken a very particular interest in this, as evidenced by his participation at the London conference and Australia’s support for looking for alternatives to this pernicious trade.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the minister for the answer and I understand that the government supports the Afghan national drug control strategy. But, given that there has been a 60 per cent surge in cultivation this year alone and that the opium production in Afghanistan now accounts for 92 per cent of the total world supply, clearly it is not working. Minister, I return to my original question: what is the government’s policy on the suggestion that we use military action to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan?

Senator COONAN (Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) —I thank Senator Evans for the supplementary. He would no doubt be aware that the United Kingdom is the lead agency in the G8 approach to this matter. It is a very serious matter and there is no trivialising of it, from the government’s perspective. We will continue to work very actively in relation to these matters in the forums where we can. It is a matter where there obviously needs to be some real cooperation, not only regionally but more broadly, in order to get the best possible solution and to try and have an effective way of dealing with narcotics in Afghanistan.