Fed: Howard challenges state rights over gambling, heroin

AAP General News (Australia)
12-17-1999
Fed: Howard challenges state rights over gambling, heroin

By James Grubel, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, Dec 17 AAP - John Howard has thrown down a challenge to state rights with
his moves against heroin trials and gambling.

The prime minister has expressed his clear dismay at the huge social cost of both illegal
drugs and gambling addiction.

The two issues pose a political dilemma for Mr Howard.

Drug controls and gambling are largely the responsibility of the states, leaving the
federal government limited in the way it can intervene.

And Mr Howard leads a Liberal Party which has long regarded itself as a champion of
state rights over centralised decision making in Canberra.

A quick look at the political history books demonstrates the Liberal Party's reluctance
to meddle in state issues.

Back in 1983, the Liberals railed against the ALP election promise to block the construction
of the Gordon below Franklin dam, which threatened Tasmanian wilderness areas.

Labor's Bob Hawke won the 1993 election and the ALP used the Commonwealth's External
Affairs powers to override the Tasmanian government plans to build the dam.

Mr Howard, during his first stint as Liberal leader in the mid 80s, also found himself
championing states rights.

In the campaign for the 1998 referendum, Mr Howard and the coalition opposed all four
questions to be put to the people, including one which would have guaranteed fair voting
across the country.

The one-vote one-value proposal was aimed squarely at the gerrymander in Queensland
which had helped prolong the life of the Bjelke-Petersen state government.

The Liberal Party at the time, led by Mr Howard, refused to stand up to the Queensland Nationals.

The Liberals said the referendum proposal deprived state parliaments of the right to
work out their own electoral laws.

"If accepted as a legitimate way of forcing change on the states, the process could
be used again by the government to poke its nose in all sorts of issues which are none
of Canberra's business," the official NO case for the referendum said.

More recently, federal parliament overturned the Northern Territory's controversial
euthanasia laws.

But the legislation did not have official party backing. The laws were overturned by
a private member's bill introduced by Liberal backbencher Kevin Andrews.

Mr Howard this week shifted his thinking towards the states after he received a letter
from the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board which raised questions about
the legality of safe heroin injecting rooms.

Mr Howard has long advocated a tough approach to the illicit drug problem and he has
been uncomfortable with the idea of injecting rooms for heroin addicts.

The letter was the catalyst he needed to intervene against injecting rooms planned
for Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

Mr Howard has called for a meeting of leaders to work out the implications of the safe
injecting rooms.

But he has raised the prospect of broader commonwealth intervention if the states and
territories cannot sort out the legal problems.

"I have up until now taken the view that despite my personal reservations that the
health and other matters are essentially ones in our federal system for state and territory
governments," he said.

"But when it is drawn to my attention there could be some national ramification I do
have some obligation as prime minister to involve myself in it and that is what I am doing."

With gambling, Mr Howard's concerns are sparked by a report which found almost 300,000
Australians are addicted to gambling, losing an average $12,000 a year.

The problems mainly stem from the growing number of poker machines around the nation.

Mr Howard has set up a new ministerial council to try to tackle the problem.

But the states, which have grown increasingly reliant upon gambling taxes for state
revenue, have signalled a bigger fight if the federal government steps in to limit gambling
activities.

They want to make sure they receive financial compensation for any move to limit gambling
revenue.

Mr Howard is relying on the long-term benefits of the GST to convince state leaders
they can afford to crack down on poker machines.

The heroin and gambling issues are safe political bets for Mr Howard.

The states will wear the blame if heroin and gambling problems cannot be solved.

But Mr Howard will be quick to claim credit for his national leadership if the states
and territories can find a way of tackling the issues.

AAP jg/it/bwl

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