{"id":34358,"date":"2017-09-22T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=34358"},"modified":"2017-09-21T16:55:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T06:55:08","slug":"disrupting-the-ice-flow-will-australias-new-strategy-deliver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/disrupting-the-ice-flow-will-australias-new-strategy-deliver\/","title":{"rendered":"Disrupting the ice flow: will Australia\u2019s new strategy deliver?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Earlier this week, the minister for justice, Michael Keenan, formally released<\/a> the Commonwealth Law Enforcement International Engagement Methamphetamine Disruption Strategy<\/a>. The Australian Federal Police (AFP)\u2013led strategy is meant to provide \u2018the framework for the Australian Government\u2019s international engagement to disrupt the supply of crystal methamphetamine (\u201cice\u201d) and its precursors to Australia\u2019. However, it\u2019s short on new ideas and doesn\u2019t provide enough resources for new law enforcement initiatives in the international operating environment.<\/p>\n

The strategy identifies the international engagement that Australian government agencies will support to implement the National Ice Action Strategy<\/a>. That approach involves leveraging \u2018existing resources and programs\u2019 through improved coordination rather than implementing any new or innovative initiatives.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s ice problem, although complex, can be summarised simply. A large proportion of Australians (by global standards) use ice\u2014and they do so frequently. Despite law enforcement agencies\u2019 record seizures, the price of ice for Australian users is statistically stable, and the drug\u2019s availability is spreading from capital cities to bush towns. From street dealers to global organised crime syndicates, there are big profits to be made in Australia\u2019s ice market. Australia\u2019s families and communities are feeling the effects of the problem daily.<\/p>\n

The new framework focuses Commonwealth law enforcement agencies\u2019 international engagement on four pillars: understanding the international environment, enhancing law enforcement and border security cooperation, delivering targeted capacity-building and capability development, and maximising advocacy and political engagement.<\/p>\n

For the most part, those focal areas are indeed best practice, and, not surprisingly, they\u2019re already priorities for the agencies involved. Arguably, the strategy directs Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, like the AFP and the Australian Border Force (ABF), to do more of what they\u2019re already doing, while their operating budgets shrink.<\/p>\n

Although Australia\u2019s law enforcement agencies, including the AFP and ABF, achieve outstanding operational results, they\u2019re not reducing the availability of ice in our communities. In its latest illicit drug data report<\/a>, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) found that, for the most part, the purity of illicit drugs is unchanged, drugs remain easy to obtain and, in some cases, the street price is dropping not increasing. Those findings can almost certainly be attributed to shortcomings in policy and strategy settings rather than in operational efforts. If our law enforcement agencies are to disrupt the supply of ice in Australia, they’ll need a solid strategy<\/a>\u2014one that\u2019s focused on achieving clearly articulated, ambitious, yet achievable, goals.<\/p>\n

There seems to be little doubt that an effective disruption strategy will require the government to further internationalise its law enforcement activities. International engagement, including cooperation and capacity development, has become a central pillar in AFP, ACIC and ABF strategies. To date, each agency has operated its own international network and engagement strategy. While those efforts have often been mutually supportive, it hasn\u2019t always been clear how they combine to support the national interest. That point is supported by this latest strategy\u2019s call for greater collaboration. I would argue that the time for domestic collaboration has passed, and perhaps a fully integrated international engagement strategy is needed.<\/p>\n

Expanding our law enforcement partnerships with ASEAN member states and China will be the key to having a meaningful effect on the ice supply\u2014and that has real resource implications. The new strategy needs to be resourced appropriately if it\u2019s going to work. For several years, the AFP\u2019s network of officers deployed overseas has been shrinking, in both staff numbers and budget. It\u2019s true that over this period the AFP has established new taskforce arrangements with local authorities in China, Cambodia and Thailand. Nonetheless, those arrangements often involve reallocating existing resources away from other operational activities, and occur against a backdrop of staff drawdowns.<\/p>\n

To have a lasting impact on the availability of ice, Australia needs to address the diversion of drugs and precursors in the Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The strategy\u2019s fourth pillar\u2014\u2018maximise advocacy and political engagement\u2019\u2014offers the promise of increased access to more diverse diplomatic policy levers that could be synchronised with law enforcement action. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) will need to be an integral partner for that to be fully effective.<\/p>\n

The strategy\u2019s implementation will be overseen and monitored by an interagency working group. However, developing the international law enforcement engagement measures that Australia needs will probably require greater cooperation and coordination than that offered by a working group convened quarterly. The government should consider setting up a small team in the soon-to-be-established Home Affairs portfolio to work with the ACIC, AFP, DFAT, AUSTRAC and ABF on developing innovative new strategies for regional offshore disruptions.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be frank: even with new ideas and additional resources, it\u2019s going to take time and a lot of effort to reduce the supply of ice to Australia. In the interim, disruptions of international ice ventures should be viewed as tactical police successes rather than evidence of the effectiveness of our strategies and policies. There\u2019s a world of difference between seizing large quantities of drugs and shutting down global illicit drug supply chains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the minister for justice, Michael Keenan, formally released the Commonwealth Law Enforcement International Engagement Methamphetamine Disruption Strategy. The Australian Federal Police (AFP)\u2013led strategy is meant to provide \u2018the framework for the Australian …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":310,"featured_media":34360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1327,528,1082,1194],"class_list":["post-34358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-border-force","tag-australian-federal-police","tag-drugs","tag-methamphetamine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDisrupting the ice flow: will Australia\u2019s new strategy deliver? | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/disrupting-the-ice-flow-will-australias-new-strategy-deliver\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disrupting the ice flow: will Australia\u2019s new strategy deliver? | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this week, the minister for justice, Michael Keenan, formally released the Commonwealth Law Enforcement International Engagement Methamphetamine Disruption Strategy. 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