NSW RECORD ON DRUG ARRESTS UNSATISFACTORY: VANSTONE

New South Wales' record on drug-related arrests was not good enough, Customs
Minister Amanda Vanstone said today.

Senator Vanstone said it was up to individual states to investigate dealers
at street level.

"If you compare the figures of the arrests of dealers in Melbourne and New
South Wales you'll see that NSW has what I would describe as a completely
unsatisfactory record compared to Victoria," she told reporters.

"In relation to arrests of heroin dealers NSW is meant to have a much more
significant problem in terms of numbers than Victoria does and yet have a
much lower arrest rate than Victoria does in relation to heroin dealers I
think that speaks for itself."

Senator Vanstone rejected comments by NSW Police Commissioner Peter Ryan
that strict law enforcement would not solve the drug problem.

At the NSW Drug Summit on Monday Mr Ryan said NSW police seized 223kg of
heroin in 1997/98, then captured another 500kg of the drug last year in a
joint operation with federal police.

"That had no effect whatsoever on the purity or street value of heroin at
all, so it gives you some indication of the volume that's coming into the
country," he told the NSW drugs summit."

But Senator Vanstone begged to differ, saying limiting the amount of drugs
coming into Australia was a good thing.

"No I wouldn't agree," Senator Vanstone said.

"I think a constant interdiction at the airport, at borders limiting supply
coming in is a good thing, and will in the end make a difference. If you
simply open the borders and allow this stuff to wash in you'll see a change
all right, you'll see a reduction in price.

"But we don't intend to let you see that because we intend to maintain our
interdiction at the borders of Australia."