Tamworth’s Ice Action Group believes they are chipping away at the problem, with focus now narrowing in on the Oxley Local Area Command. 

Chaired by Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson, the group is still focused on mapping local services and said it was “pie in the sky to try to fix this thing in one hit”.

The group identified the need for a central call service to direct anyone in need to the local services that can assist.

After yesterday’s group meeting, Mr Anderson was critical of the current model provided by the Alcohol Drug Information Service, saying it “certainly does not provide the information” and was “not adequate”.

“So today, we’ve narrowed that down to working on a local solution for the Oxley Local Area Command geographical area to look at a local referral model, and I don’t think it is too narrow,” Mr Anderson said.

The group set aside June 17 as the date for their next meeting and Mr Anderson had a few goals he wanted to see ticked off in the next six weeks.

“I would like to see a memorandum of understanding set up between our local service providers, so someone in need rings the number and gets referred to a service provider in our region,” he said. 

“And, if they aren’t able to immediately deal with it, they will at least be able to refer to the next organisation, but stay connected”.

While the focus of the group has largely revolved around highlighting the services avail- able in the region, Mr Anderson believed the group is making a “huge difference”.

“Just because you don’t have a skyrocketing moment, and fix one particular issue on day one, that doesn’t mean to say you give up,” he said. 

“It’s a long-term process and I know there are business people in this city that have family members affected by ice saying ‘keep going, I know its going to take time’ and we’re committed to it.”

Gunnedah based MLC Sarah Mitchell said she was responsible for reporting the actions of the taskforce back to cabinet through her role as parliamentary secretary for rural and regional health and western NSW.

“The two [meetings] we’ve had since the inception of the taskforce back in January have been really worthwhile and I would agree with Kevin that under his leadership, that at each meeting, we seem to be getting a little bit closer at what we might need to do and what we might need to change,” Ms Mitchell said.

The NSW MLC said cabinet was aware of the work of the taskforce through her initial reporting.

“The next step will come when this group reaches a point where we’re actually able to recommend some actions back to cabinet. 

“Whether that’s actually some change in terms of a policy or the drug and alcohol line that we want looked at,” she said.