SYDNEY, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Wednesday to put forward a tough new plan to combat the epidemic of methamphetamine which is locally known as ice.
The premier's plan to deal with the drug includes prioritizing organized crime investigations into drug traffickers and seizing the assets of traffickers and drug makers.
"We need to come down hard with the full resources of our law enforcement agencies on the criminal groups producing this drug, be they outlaw motorcycle gangs or international syndicates or any other group," Palaszczuk said.
"But we need to do much more than that. Ice may be slightly less addictive than heroin, but its effects trap users in a downward spiral that takes far greater time and resources to escape."
The premier will hold a number of community summits over the next few months to directly get feedback from those affected by the drug. The first of which will be conducted on April 27 in Rockhampton.
But the opposition has denounced her move, describing it as "another talk-fest."
In 2015, a national task force was conducted by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, which offered strikingly similar proposals put forward by Palaszczuk and produced 250 pages of recommendations.
"All Annastacia Palaszczuk needed to do was put a plan into action, but instead she's put forward yet another half-cooked policy," Queensland Shadow Police Minister Tim Mander said.
"Worse still, Labor wound back the LNP's strong criminal gang laws, despite clear evidence that organized crime groups are entrenched in the methamphetamine market in Queensland."
