Prime Minister Jenny Shipley added Corrections to my Conservation portfolio in 1998. I remember the Opposition interjecting that my only qualification for the job was being descended from convict stock compulsorily deported to Australia. Now, my 86-year-old father in Cairns would want me to put the record straight. Our ancestor Jeremiah Smith migrated to Australia in 1791 by choice. It was seven years in Australia or hanging! The Kiwi contingent of my family still think it would have been a difficult choice. Initiatives I took in Corrections were separate youth prisons, the introduction of random drug testing, and expanding drug and alcohol treatment. I remain, unapologetically, today an arch-conservative on drugs and alcohol. Substance abuse and addiction is at the heart of so much crime, hurt, and tragedy. I don't buy this line that going soft and being more permissive will see less use and less harm. It's not a choice of enforcement or treatment. We need to do more of both.