Expenditure and workforce

8.1 Health expenditure and health funding 39

9. DRUGS AND MONEY

Emerging technologies such as smart cards, electronic cash and the Internet have been heralded as the next step in the evolution of money laundering. Australian and international law enforcement agencies have however, found little evidence that these new technologies are being used in this way. Legislation and law enforcement capabilities need to be developed to deal with emerging technologies that can be used to launder money. The techniques used to launder money in 1999–2000 were much the same as those used in previous years. There is, however, a change in how the methods are being used to avoid detection. Concern about the use of alternative remittance and underground banking systems is growing. Australia is an attractive ‘host ’ country for these systems because of factors such as the multiplicity of ethnic backgrounds represented in the population, the nation’s developed status, and its advanced financial sector. If the effectiveness of asset confiscation in Australia is to be measured, national uniform guidelines for statistical recording of asset confiscation are necessary. A greater awareness of the importance of following the money trail in the investigation of illicit drug activity has led to a more holistic approach to the investigation of illicit drug offences: financial investigators are now an integral part of multi-skilled teams investigating such offences

4.5 Health behaviours 131

4.6 Biomedical factors 153Key points • Tobacco smoking offers the greatest scope for prevention, closely followed by high blood pressure and overweight/obesity. Australia’s level of smoking continues to fall and is among the lowest for OECD countries, with the daily smoking rate about one in six adults in 2007. • About 7.4 million adults were overweight in 2004–05, with over a third of those being obese. • Illicit drug use in Australia is generally declining, including the use of methamphetamine (the drug group that includes ‘ice’). • Most Australians have access to good-quality drinking water, although some remote Indigenous communities have no organised water supply. Australia’s health 2008 • Australia leads among OECD countries in vaccinating older people against influenza. • Unsafe sexual practices continue, reflected in generally increasing rates o

Climate change impacts on Australia

This chapter provides a sample of conclusions from detailed studies of Australian impacts. These studies are available in full on the Review’s website. Growth in emissions is expected to have a severe and costly impact on agriculture, infrastructure, biodiversity and ecosystems in Australia. There will also be flow-on effects from the adverse impact of climate change on Australia’s neighbours in the Pacific and Asia. These impacts would be significantly reduced with ambitious global mitigation. The hot and dry ends of the probability distributions, with a 10 per cent chance of realisation, would be profoundly disruptive. This chapter focuses on Australia’s exposure and sensitivity to climate change and considers the impacts of climate change on Australia in six key sectors and areas, chosen either because they make a large economic contribution to Australia, or because the impacts on market or non-market values are expected to b

and its avoidance

median outcomes) costs of climate change in the 21st century are much higher than earlier studies suggested. The Platinum Age emissions grow much faster than earlier studies contemplated. The modelling of the 550 mitigation case shows mitigation cutting the growth rate over the next half century, and lifting it somewhat in the last decades of the century. GNP is higher with 550 mitigation than without by the end of the century. The loss of present value of median climate change GNP through the century will be outweighed by Type 3 (insurance value) and Type 4 (nonmarket values) benefits this century, and much larger benefits of all kinds in later years. Mitigation for 450 costs almost a percentage point more than 550 mitigation of the present value of GNP through the 21st century. The stronger mitigation is justified by Type 3 (insurance value) and Type 4 (non-market values) benefits in the 21st century and much larger benefit

Heroin

A reduction in the availability of heroin across the nation, commencing in December 2000, resulted in lower street-level purity and increased prices during the reporting period. As a result of the reduced availability of heroin, some users began to use other illicit substances such as cocaine and methylamphetamine. Customs made the third largest detection of heroin at the border to date: 184.1 kilograms concealed in the structure of a sea cargo container. An edict totally banning opium cultivation in Afghanistan reduced the global opium harvest. In the short-term, large amounts o

The majority of Andean cocaine still flows to North America. � However, cocaine is increasingly

n In 2007–08, the number of cocaine detections at the Australian border increased by 71 per cent. n Over 80 per cent of the total weight of cocaine detected at the Australian border occurred in sea cargo shipments. n The number of national cocaine seizures in 2007–08 is the highest on record. n While cocaine arrests decreased in 2007–08, they remain at a high level. Main forms Cocaine is a stimulant drug produced from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca), which is native to South America. Cocaine increases the activity of the central nervous system and interferes with the uptake of dopamine—a chemical in the brain associated with pleasure (DEA, 2006). Historically, cocaine was used as an anaesthetic in surgery but is now used illicitly for its euphoric and stimulating effects. In its most common form as a hydrochloride salt (cocaine hydrochloride), it appears as a white crystalline powder. It can be snorted, rubbed into the gums or injected once dissolved in water. ‘Crack ’ is the name given to a freebase form of cocaine. � In this form, it appears as rock crystals that are heated and their vapours inhaled (DEA, 2006). Crack cocaine is not commonly encountered in Australia. Long-term effects of cocaine use include insomnia, depression, anxiety, psychosis and cerebral atrophy. Regardless of the length or frequency of cocaine use, associated health risks include heart attack or stroke, which may lead to sudden death. When consumed in conjunction with alcohol, the associated health risks are compounded as the human liver manufactures a third substance called cocaethylene, which increases both the euphoric effect and risk of death (DrugInfo Clearinghouse, 2007; NIDA, 2007). The term ‘crack ’ refers to the crackling sound the cocaine produces when heated

8. DRUGS IN PRISONS

Although incarceration poses few obstacles for determined drug users, accessible support services are offered to prisoners wishing to abstain. Cannabis continues to be by far the most frequently detected drug in prisons. Initiatives on the part of corrective services do work and can reduce the extent of drug use in correctional centres

An Australian policy framework

Australia’s mitigation effort is our contribution to keeping alive the possibility of an effective global agreement on mitigation. Any effort prior to an effective, comprehensive global agreement should be short, transitional and directed at achievement of a global agreement. A well-designed emissions trading scheme has important advantages over other forms of policy intervention. However, a carbon tax would be better than a heavily compromised emissions trading scheme. The role of complementary measures to the emissions trading scheme is to lower the cost of meeting emissions reduction trajectories, as well as adapting to the impacts of climate change by correcting market failures. Once a fully operational emissions trading scheme is in place, the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target will not address any additional market failures. Its potentially distorting effects can be phased out. Governments at all levels will inform the community’s adaptation response. More direct forms of intervention may be warranted when events unfol

FSIS Form 5400-4, Noncompliance Record (NR), how to submit completed NRs to an

IPP are to submit all NRs generated using the instructions contained in this directive daily to this new Outlook mailbox. I. PURPOSE The purpose of this directive is to provide inspection program personnel (IPP) with instructions on how to document noncompliance observed in egg products plants o