The man, who did not wish to be named, was at Chaffey Park in South Tamworth on Wednesday afternoon when his five-year-old daughter made the discovery.

He thinks his daughter and her fellow five-year-old friend found the uncapped syringe in an alcove of the park’s toilet block and one of them carried it out.

A mother who was in her car near the toilet block saw the syringe, which still had fluid in it, on the ground and alerted the parents.

“I’d say they’ve picked it up and brought it out, but neither of them would say they touched it – they each said the other one did it,” the concerned father said.

“If she had pricked her finger, I’m pretty sure I would have sat down at that park night after night until I found out who was going down there and then dealt with it.

“That’s probably not the right thing to say or do, but what do you do? They’re putting my kids at risk.” 

The man said he sat his daughter and seven-year-old son down after the incident and warned them about the dangers of used needles.

“I said ‘if you see anything that looks like what we give you medicine with, please don’t touch it because it’s dangerous’,” he said.

“My daughter is always picking things like sticks up, and I’m forever telling her not to do it, but it’s just what kids do.”

The man, who said there were dozens of children at the park that afternoon, notified a soccer club official about the grisly discovery. 

“They’ve obviously carried the needle to the park to use it, so why don’t they carry it away?” he said.

“It’s just ridiculous. Maybe they need to make a place for people to (shoot up), but I don’t know if that’s just promoting (drug use).”