Brendan Ryan (Labour)

——because the evidence is arguable. The evidence from cocaine use is that it is inherently destructive and profoundly addictive. The idea that sane, intelligent and, by and large, educated young people would put their futures at risk in this way raises all sorts of profound questions about values and what point they see in life. Senator O'Toole's suggestions make perfect sense. Technology could solve this problem.

Before I sit down for what may be my second last day in the House — I have enough reason to be aware of the vagaries of the electorate — I mention once again the plight of the Palestinian people, an issue I have raised repeatedly, and the extraordinary decision the world has taken to subvert democracy in the Palestinian territories by recognising an autocratically appointed government instead of a democratically elected one. It is not a question of what I think about that government, but the principle that the rest of the world has now said that an appointed government is better than an elected one is a profoundly wrong decision in principle and also in politics. It will be proven to be wrong in the long term, whatever about the short-term expediency.

I ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Government and the European Union to reflect again on this unequivocal commitment to an autocratically appointed government which will leave the Palestinian people without proper leadership and without a government they can trust.