A QUEENSLAND university has outraged residents of Sydney's western suburbs by labelling their communities "urban ghettos" and "socio-economic scars".

Cabramatta, Canley Vale and Bonnyrigg are described in the Griffith University study, Suburban Scars, as Australia's equivalent of America's urban ghettos.

"I absolutely take offence to that,'' says councillor Thang Ngo, who has lived at Canley Vale for almost 10 years and has been a member of Fairfield Council for the past nine.

"When you say 'ghetto', it gives a completely different connotation from what I see every day.

"I choose to live here, and I've lived at Penrith, Lane Cove, Darlinghurst and Newtown.''

The study, led by Associate Professor Scott Baum, ranks suburbs on a General Deprivation Index.

It analyses them in terms of the percentage of its population living in public housing, proficiency in English, unemployment levels and the median income of individuals and families.

The study claims Brisbane does not have any ghettos because there is a more even distribution and substantially lower relative deprivation in the resource-booming and growing state.

The outer Brisbane suburbs of Inala and Logan Central, however, are listed as deprived areas.

Professor Baum said the report was not intended to marginalise or offend anyone living in the Cabramatta area.

"The point is that if the ghettos of the US are seen as increasingly distant and socially disconnected from wealthier areas, then the same kind of comparison can be made with these suburbs in Sydney.''

Mr Ngo said the research stigmatised his suburb.

"We know this is an area of social disadvantage, but to label a community a ghetto marginalises it even more,'' he said.

"The study also viewed the number of people over the age of 65 living in a suburb as a negative, but I actually think that's a great thing.

"This study doesn't track the improvements here - there aren't people overdosing in the streets like there were 12 years ago.''

Cabramatta once had a reputation as a haven for drug dealers, with heroin being openly bought and sold on the streets.

Increased policing, however, has resulted in drug dealers leaving the area and moving elsewhere.
Detective Chief Inspector James Johnson said there had been a problem in the past with drug activity in the Cabramatta area, but the level of crime was now very low.

"People overdosing in the streets just doesn't happen here,'' he said.

Inspector Johnson said he regularly took his family out for meals in Cabramatta and knew people from other suburbs who regularly travelled to the area to enjoy its culinary offerings.

Mr Ngo describes his area as diverse, optimistic and tight-knit.

"We're a very cohesive community - I've been on holidays and forgotten to lock my car, and my neighbour has done it for me.

"But things like that are intangible, so they don't measure it.''

Mr Ngo said communities were much more than "a bunch of numbers from the Census''.

"To reduce a community to that is an injustice that can hurt communities,'' he said.

Mr Ngo said he thought academic studies would better serve the Cabramatta area if they suggested positive social policy ideas rather than criticising through derogatory labels.

Fairfield mayor Nick Lalich said the report was "a terrible misuse of words''.

"I challenge anybody to come out here and say this is like an American ghetto,'' he said.

Mr Lalich said he thought the report went too far.

He said the area had social problems such as higher unemployment and lower proficiencies in English as a result of being a landing place for new immigrants.

"There are 200 nationalities in Australia, and we have 133 nationalities in Fairfield.

"But we don't have race riots here; people get along.''

Mr Lalich, who has lived in the area all his life, said it had changed tremendously, and derogatory statements only detracted from the hard work done in cleaning up the area.

"We do need more government funding, but this is a unique area - a place of hope offering people a new life and a chance to learn the Australian way of life.''