PM'S "EXPERT" PLAN OF ACTION FOR WAR ON DRUGS

An "independent expert" will examine the cash-strapped Australian Federal
Police (AFP) and develop a plan to equip it to fight booming drug
trafficking and global crime networks, the Prime Minister announced
yesterday.

But Customs will not be part of the review, despite claims that budget cuts
have seen a dramatic reduction in its ability to stop illegal drugs
entering Australia. The Premier, Mr Carr, claimed this week that only 2 per
cent of flights to Australia were checked by Customs and many ports in NSW
had no Customs presence at night or during weekends.

In an address to an Interpol conference yesterday, Mr Howard flagged an
immediate injection of funds to boost the AFP's resources before the
independent expert delivers a report on longer-term funding needs "within
three to four months".

Funding has run down so low in the AFP that officers have been asked to
delay purchases and pay for them on credit card so the expense can be
pushed through to the 1998-99 financial year.

The AFP Commissioner, Mr Mick Palmer, has asked for a prompt injection of
money to combat the crisis and Mr Howard said an unspecified amount would
be handed over "shortly".

"Australia deserves a Commonwealth law enforcement agency that is second to
none in the world," Mr Howard said. "A reform process to enable the AFP to
develop into such an agency is under way but it will not succeed unless
resourcing decisions are geared to the vision we have for the AFP."

The Australian Federal Police Association, which has run a vocal campaign
to boost AFP funding, applauded the Prime Minister's initiative.

But it warned that the timetable for the independent expert's review meant
that any boost to funding would miss the cut-off for the 1998-99 Budget, to
be delivered in May.

The Customs Officers' Association (COA) is also complaining about the
effect of budget cuts and reduced manpower at ports and airports. It says
onlythree in every 10,000 containers is scrutinised at ports.

Customs received the bulk of a $44 million increase in funding in the
Federal Government's "Tough on Drugs" initiative late last year. That came
on top of an $18.3 million increase in the last Budget.

But the COA and the Federal Opposition said the additional funds were
inadequate to maintain proper manning levels at Australia's ports of entry.

"As a result of Mr Howard's budget cuts to the AFP and Customs we now have
more people in Darwin checking to see that fruit flies don't leave that
city than we do have people intercepting drugs at the wharves," said Labor
spokesman Senator Nick Bolkus.

"And the fruit fly inspectors are working round the clock, whereas the AFP
and Customs officers are forced to work nine to five."

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Customs, Mr Truss, said Labor claims
that the Customs budget had been cut were simply untrue - funding had
increased in every year the Coalition had been in power.

As for manning levels at the front line, she said Customs relied more and
more on intelligence gathered by the AFP and other sources, rather than
routine searches of planes and ships.