[Greens-Media] Greens visit Macquarie Fields and support calls for RoyalCommission

[Alison Orme]

MEDIA RELEASE - 10 March 2005

Greens visit Macquarie Fields and support calls for Royal Commission

Returning from a second visit today to meet with Jesse Kelly's family and other community experts, MPs Lee Rhiannon and Sylvia Hale said Carr must keep putting in the leg work long after Macquarie Fields has dropped out of the headlines.

"We support Jesse Kelly's family's call for a royal commission into Macquarie Fields and until the Government comes on board we'll continue pushing for a parliamentary inquiry," Justice spokesperson Ms Rhiannon said. 

"Macquarie Fields is a wake up call to Carr. Policing strategies that involved harassment and intimidation urgently need investigation. 

"We'd like consideration given to an Ombudsman's audit of the local area command and the introduction of neighbourhood guardians, a successful UK initiative set up in response to the Brixton riots.

"Some of the heavy policing just hasn't been warranted, like at yesterday's wake where Aaron Robertson, brother of one of the dead boys, was thrown to the ground by police. You'd have to ask why, considering he wasn't later charged," Ms Rhiannon said.

NSW Greens Housing and Community Services spokesperson Sylvia Hale said that Macquarie Fields had been neglected by all levels of government until the riots.
 
"The Youth Centre is only open for a few hours at a time, just three days a week.  Young people are at a loose end and have nowhere to go outside these hours," Greens MP Sylvia Hale said.
 
"Macquarie Fields is about 9km away from Campbelltown where most services are centred.  It is very difficult for young people without transport to travel that 9 km.
 
"People feel utterly neglected by the Government. There are no adequate services, Department of Housing units are not properly maintained and public transport is a disaster," Ms Hale said.

Contact:  Alison Orme, Advisor, Lee Rhiannon MLC - 0408 976 707
Mithra Cox, Advisor, Sylvia Hale MLC * 0425 351 844