Pubdate: Fri, 28 Jul 2000
Source: Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright: News Limited 2000
Contact:  2 Holt Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010
Fax: (02) 9288-2300
Website: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/
Author: Michael D. Robinson

BORDER GATES MUST BE CLOSED

It's no surprise that the supervised drug-injecting rooms have again come
under fire for their illegality.

Phillip Tzavellas ("Customs leaves the door open", Letters, July 26) raises
two significant points.

The open-door honesty-box system of Custows clearly has not stopped drugs,
steroids or weapons. The real issue is to fix Customs by holding a royal
commission to find out how things got this bad, followed by a restructuring
and then slamming the border gates closed.

The unconstitutional breaches of the Customs Act in regard to supervising
illegal drug use are the responsibility of the Customs Minister, Australian
Federal Police Commissioner, attorneys-general and the Prime Minister, who
have a duty to the Australian people to enforce the law and maintain the
Constitution.

Has bureaucratic apathy and political buck-passing rendered federal laws
worthless and, if so, what is the value of the paper the Constitution is
written on?

Michael D. Robinson, Hurlstone Park
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