TAMWORTH’s ice action taskforce met for the first time yesterday and local MP Kevin Anderson said the group’s first action will be to address gaps found in the availability of information for people looking to get off drugs.
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The taskforce came together at Tamworth Town Hall yesterday after an initial forum with Deputy Premier Troy Grant found the need for a locally-based taskforce on reducing ice use.
“The gap that we found was the availability of information,” taskforce chairman Kevin Anderson said.
“Say, for example, someone is taken to the emergency department because they’ve taken ice, they haven’t committed a crime, they have been seen fit to go back into the community, where do they go?
“If they are willing to, and want to, look at getting their life in order, where do they go?”
The group will come together again in eight weeks to look at data on ice-related presentations to emergency and referral figures from headspace.
Mr Anderson said that data would provide the basis for the next steps for the taskforce.
The Tamworth MP said the meeting posed two key issues regarding breaking ice addiction in the community: engaging youth who are at a high risk of taking up the drug, and messaging about services available to users looking to get clean.
“We will be working closely with health to look at the communication process and messaging,” he said.
A representative from the department of premier and cabinet was present at the meeting, which Mr Anderson said was “a powerful pathway to look at what we need, if we need extra resources or funding for whatever starts to emerge”.
The meeting also recognised the need to engage with Juvenile Justice which will be invited to join the group.
Ice Action Group attendees
Kevin Anderson MP
Ray Tait – NSW Ambulance
Lia Mahony – Tamworth Business Chamber
Tracey Filicietti – Community advocate
Susan Ring – Family and Community Services
Dr Michael Campbell-Smith – Hunter New England Health
Alison McGaffin – Department of Premier and Cabinet
Clint Pheeney – Oxley Local Area Command
Col Murray – Tamworth Regional Council
Sarah Mitchell MLC – Parliamentary Secretary Regional and Rural Health
Linden Ross – Headspace
Ruythe Dafty – Department of Education
Marc Sutherland – The Youthie
Pete France – Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Service
Simon Bartlett-Taylor – Principal, Oxley High School
Fiona Snape – Tamworth Local Aboriginal Land Council
