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- 28 February 2006
Nimbin Drug Use
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Page: 20717
Mr THOMAS GEORGE (Lismore) [5.44 p.m.]: Nimbin is a wonderful town in my electorate of Lismore. I will set the scene for honourable members. I received a letter that is typical of letters and complaints that I receive about Nimbin. The letter reads:
Dear Sir,
Over the holidays we decided to go to a few different places on our travels, and boy did we come across something different. NIMBIN _
I could not explain to my 14yo daughter why I have told her all her life that it is wrong to do drugs and it is illegal as well.
She knows the law about drugs.
My daughter wants to be a lawyer when she finishes school but was totally shocked why the law is not carried out in the little community of Nimbin????
Three times she was asked if she wanted to "score" as they put it.
She watched several people smoking joints in the street.
And then we went into a shop which next door was a café to smoke all you like.
We came across police, but could you tell us why this community has different rules to the rest of the country???
The community has had enough. There is blatant drug use and drug dealing in Nimbin. The town also has problems with alcohol, mental health, homelessness and domestic violence. I sympathise with the majority of Nimbin residents who must put up with violent and antisocial behaviour from a certain section of the community.
I put it on the record that the call for a greater police presence in the area comes from every section of the Nimbin community. I led a community delegation that discussed the issue with the previous Minister for Police. We realise that it is not just a matter for the police; heads of departments in the area have been working together to come up with some solutions to the many problems in Nimbin. However, this afternoon I will focus on the drug scene in the town. Even when there is a media presence in Nimbin the cameras and reporters do not stop people from smoking, and dealing in, drugs. The police are being intimidated. Whenever they make an arrest within five or 10 minutes people arrive to protest against the arrest. They stop the police from doing their jobs. At present only three police officers from a staff of four are stationed at Nimbin and they cannot do their job.
I have always said that Nimbin is the town in the electorate of Lismore that has the most tourism potential. But it needs to be cleaned up and controlled. I have received reports about victims of bashings who are hospitalised with broken limbs but who will not report the crime against them. Why? It is because they are frightened of the consequences if they make a report to the police. The crime statistics do not reveal the real picture at Nimbin. A local newspaper reported recently:
Magistrates are telling the police not to waste their time with petty drug crimes.
That is not acceptable and the community has had enough. Students come to me, as their local member, for help. They say, "Every time we apply for work in Lismore or the surrounding towns and say that we're from Nimbin the interviewer's attitude changes immediately". The residents of Nimbin need our help. We have witnessed riots at Cronulla, Dubbo and Macquarie Fields. If we do not have a proper police presence to bring law and order to Nimbin the New South Wales Government will add Nimbin to that list. Do not say that you have not been warned!
I call on the Minister for Police to provide eight police over and above the present strength at Nimbin and that of the Richmond Local Area Command. Every mayor in the electorate of Lismore is telling the Richmond Local Area Command superintendent not to send officers from their towns to Nimbin. We cannot expect three police to provide the policing required at Nimbin. They are overworked—on many occasions there are no police on duty. We need an additional police presence. Community members have told me that they are sick of the blatant drug use and drug dealing in Nimbin. We must have extra police officers as soon as possible in order to return law and order to a community that needs, and deserves, better. [Time expired.]
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