Pressure from the NSW Nationals has forced the Minns Labor Government into calling an inquiry into regional and rural crime.
NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders said while this important step will make room for a whole-of-government approach to the escalating crisis, he’s called for immediate action for other towns that are seeing similar issues to Moree.
On Tuesday night Mr Saunders handed a letter to the Premier’s office. The letter, signed by every Nationals Member in the NSW Parliament, urged the Premier to hear the calls for help from our communities, and every other bush community in the state.
“It’s good to see the Minns Labor Government has finally started to listen and has started on that path, but now we need to know what measures it will put in place help people right now.
“It’s clear a cookie-cutter approach won’t fix things here and the government needs to give all communities a seat at the table to be able to come forward with solutions that are tailored to them.”
Shadow Police Minister Paul Toole said The Nationals have been calling for a regional crime inquiry for some time.
“It has taken six months for Labor to get off their hands and do something about rising crime in the regions. It’s about time they started listening to the cries from the bush,” Mr Toole said.
“Hypocrisy is rife in this announcement. It’s a big turnaround from the embattled Police Minister’s previous claims that an inquiry would be a ‘waste of time’ and it took six months to get Chris Minns and his Police Minister to act.
“Given the amount of time it has taken to get started, I doubt we would see any results from the inquiry for another year.
“It brings little comfort to those who have already been a victim of crime and living in fear who need answers now.”
Mr Toole is one of five MPs to be members of the “Community safety in regional and rural communities” inquiry.
The committee Chair and Deputy Chair are both Labor MPs from metropolitan Sydney.
