Firstly, I’d like to thank the Committee for taking the time to come to the people of Cabramatta. As I have said publicly, this is the best chance residents have to bring our case directly to parliament.

While I am the only Vietnamese speaking councillor in Fairfield, I’d like to clarify that today I am not representing the views of Fairfield Council. The Mayor has already done that.

Today, I am representing the ordinary residents and shopkeepers of Cabramatta who have come to me for help.

At the end of the day, I guess you will be asking yourselves: "is it as bad as it all sounds?" and if I know the other residents who will come before you today, you will hear some "bad" stories.

People call Cabramatta Australia’s drug capital because:

• drugs are sold in broad daylight on the streets
• you can’t get off the train without being offered heroin
• our local library toilets were temporarily closed due to dangers posed by illicit drug use

• Primary School kids can’t use their local playground because of addicts and discarded needles?
• a local street that has been burgled over 85 times in six months?
• an drug user died of an overdose a few days ago and another one a few days before that
• we can’t eat at restaurants without addicts peddling stolen goods in our faces

I would argue that the level of drug activity here is much more intense and blatant than most other suburbs in Australia – and that’s why residents are crying out for your help.

Of course you will hear many times drug arrest statistics from Police to show their success. This is nothing new.

The Police PR unit regularly comes out with stories proclaiming the war against drugs in Cabramatta have been won, and I quote

"Police win war in drug capital" was a Daily Telegraph Headline on 24 April 98. It goes on to say "Puccini success: About 1,500 arrests have been made - mainly for heroin offences".

This year, on 2^nd March, also in the Daily Telegraph the headlines screamed:

"Suburb’s crime in hand: Ryan" and the Police Commissioner was quoted: "Cabramatta at the moment is 51 on the [crime] index, and that is really quite remarkable – there are 50 places which are worse".

And another month before that on 25^th February, again in the Daily Telegraph, under the headline:

"Ryan says Cabramatta streets safe" the Commissioner is quoted: "what we’ve done is have such as success at Cabramatta it’s no longer regarded as dangerous or difficult as it used to be".

The successes are mainly attributed to high drug arrest rates of Operation Puccini, a high profile overt police operation.

I am no expert on crime stats, so I would have to rely on the expert. And you have heard from Dr Don Weatherburn, who is arguably the most qualified expert on these matters appeared before you last month, Dr Weatherburn said:

"Recorded drug offences do not tell us anything about the scale of our drug problem or the scale of the harm caused by that drug" (p 29, 8 Nov transcript).

In other words, you can’t claim success as a result of drug arrest and they are not a measure of the harm caused by drugs in the community.

The front line police have certainly worked hard and under very difficult conditions. I can see why Police would like to keep morale up there by regularly announcing success stories.

But as we’ve heard from experts, are they really success stories?

The Committee has heard from Police at least twice already and I’m sure you will hear more in future hearings.

Today, I intend present the residents’ perspective, because at the end of the day, we have to live in Cabramatta after everyone else has finished their shifts and gone home.

I intend to tackle the three terms of reference (TOR) one by one, from the community’s perspective, and when possible demonstrate them with recent case studies.

Before we continue, I’d like to go over the demographics of Cabramatta:

Cabramatta is part of Fairfield local government area (LGA), the most multicultural LGA in all of Australia where 53.5% residents born overseas, that’s more than half.

 Top five languages spoken in Fairfield homes are:

English 33%

Vietnamese 13%

Chinese 11%

Italian 5%

Spanish 5%

In Cabramatta, seven in ten over 5 years of age speak a language other than English at home.

Two in five Vietnamese and Chinese speakers claim in the past census to speak English poorly or not at all.

So you can see we are a very different community and I would argue one that requires very different solutions.

TOR 1: The adequacy of police resources in Cabramatta, especially in relation to drug crimes.

The best example I can think of to illustrate the lack of Police resources is Avonlea Street, a quiet cul-de-sac in Canley Heights, a nearby suburb serviced by Cabramatta Police.

Early in April, a resident contacted me, claiming he had been burgled 4 times in the past few months.

When I came to see him on Saturday, 8 April many other residents in the street also told me they had the same problem. We counted 80 break-ins in just six months.

The following week another five break-ins occurred.

On Thursday after (the 12^th), I was called at 10:15pm by Avonlea Street residents after they saw a man carrying a VCR and electrical tools down the street. I immediately called Cabramatta police.

At 10:30pm about a dozen witnesses saw Police drive down the cul-de-sac, turn around and leave without stopping. In frustration, residents rung me. I rung police. I’m told it doesn’t mean they won’t come back, but they may have to attend to a more urgent call. I tell them they must come back.

10:45-10:50pm police return, residents inform them of problem. But they have to leave again, without explanation.

11pm Police return to take statements.

So, from the explanation provided by Police, this toing-and-froing was a direct result of police having to attend to other calls. This would indicate to me a lack of resources. Residents claim this is frustrating, wastes time and is inefficient.

When I discussed this matter with Regional Area Commander Mr Chris Evans, he confirmed it was a resource problem. Mr Evans advised that every Area Command would like more resources, but he has been told he can not get any more.

It was at this stage the residents and I felt we need an Inquiry into police resources.

What was particularly disappointing from the residents’ point of view was the lack of communication. They were not told where the investigation was up to, fingerprints were not taken, making it hard to make positive identification– confidence in police was at an all time low.

The residents of Avonlea Street then came to a consensus that they would report crimes to me as they felt police seemed to take more notice if I called them.

TOR 2: The impact, if any, of the Crime Index on Cabramatta Policing

Deputy Police Commissioner, Jeff Jarratt claimed when he appeared before this Committee, in relation to police resource allocation:

".. a lot of factors including the levels of reported crime, but not the position on the crime index" (p15, 8 Nov transcript)

I take that to mean that the volume of reports affects resource allocation.

Now going back to Avonlea Street. Residents claim over 85 break-ins in six months to April. Police record shows 8 and that later increased to 9. There's a huge difference. I know that they stopped reporting towards the end if they feel there is no chance of recovery of goods, as was often the case.

Of course, there are many other reasons for people in Cabramatta to not report crime apart from lack of confidence:

• Many shops are not insured so there’s no point in reporting. I must admit when the UNITY party office in Cabramatta was broken into, and the PC and fax were stolen, I didn’t bother to report it. It would have meant more paperwork without any possibility of getting it back
• Low English-proficiency is a major problem and I will go into greater detail in the next TOR
• People don’t have time to wait around especially if its minor

But you will recall the interview which Commissioner Ryan gave to the Daily Telegraph on 2^nd March:

"Cabramatta at the moment is 51 on the [crime] index, and that is really quite remarkable – there are 50 places which are worse".

I would argue if this is the Commissioner’s attitude and he ultimately controls the purse strings, the position on the index may indirectly affect resource allocation.

TOR 3: The effectiveness of the Police Service in addressing the needs and problems of Cabramatta residents and in particular people from non-English speaking backgrounds.

Given seven in ten over 5 years of age speak a language other than English at home in Cabramatta, I would argue this is the most important TOR.

So how well do the police understand and respond the local ethnic communities?

In the latest police annual report: of almost 13,500 uniformed police officers in NSW, 280 or less than 1.5% come from a non-English speaking background, this compares with a figure of 15.7% for NSW. So the representation is 10 times lower than in NSW society.

There are in fact, more police with a disability (at 360) compared to those from a non-English speaking background.

At a local level, there are no police officers who can speak Vietnamese or Chinese or Khmer (Cambodian born is the second largest overseas born birthplace in Fairfield) or any South-east Asian language.

Recent arrival migrant groups such as those from Vietnam, Chinese-speaking and Cambodia have the lowest English proficiency, with two in five claiming to speak English poorly or not at all.

I am not saying get ethnic police officers and all problems are solved, but it is a start. You don’t start understanding the culture until you can competently communicate on a basic level. You can not hope to gain trust until you can communicate.

So the next obvious question is: "why don’t Police recruit officers from other backgrounds?"

I have been told that they have. But I can not find evidence in the past few years. I posed this question to the police media unit in March this year and didn’t receive an answer. I called the Police Ethnic Affairs Unit a last week and there is still no response.

Yet, I saw an ad by Victoria Police on 18 March this year recruiting officers from a Vietnamese background.

I have also been reliably informed that NSW Police have within the past couple of years have run advertising in gay media to attract gay police.

There are three ethnic community liaison officers in Cabramatta called ECLOs, with one of those being a Vietnamese-speaker. ECLOs are not police officers and work a 9 to 5 shift, making after hour access difficult. When they are on leave, they are not replaced. I understand there are times when this position has to attend court for lengthy periods and is not accessible to the general community.

The position has not been widely publicised and in my informal consultation with the community, awareness of this position is not high.

Certainly in the case of Avonlea Street, a Vietnamese speaking resident has been frustrated at not being able to access this person.

I myself organised a residents’ meeting with Avonlea Street residents and police in April this year. I specifically requested for the Vietnamese speaking ECLO to be present to translate, but the person did not attend. I was later told there was a internal police mis-communication.

PAL (Police Assistance Line)

This is the number to call to report minor crimes like break-ins, car theft etc. This number has been promoted via ethnic media.

I called this number and was told it would be much faster and more efficient for ethnic residents to go to a police station rather than report crimes to PAL.

So we’re back to square one because of a lack of police who can speak a relevant language.

Advertising

I was alarmed that Police have placed in-language advertising in ethnic papers to promote the PAL line, but when you call they don’t speaks that language.

This advertising policy seems to flow to other police advertising. As an example, I have with me an advert in the local Fairfield paper to promote the 1800 333 000 police crime stoppers hotline on 8 August.

It promoted the fact that there was a TTY number for the hearing impaired, but omitted to mention the Translation Interpreting Service (TIS) number for those who need translation help.

Other forms of communication

I believed the last open forum between police and the general community was three years ago.

At the moment there is a Police Customer Council, of which I believe selected community groups and leaders are invited, but not necessarily the general public.

Certainly, as the only Vietnamese speaking councillor in Fairfield, I did not find out about it from the Police and I, like many others have not been invited.

Last week the Commissioner announced a change in the two top cops in our area in Greater Hume Commander, Chris Evans and Cabramatta Local Area Commander, John Sweeney.

While this is certainly not a reflection on the incoming Commanders, the community was very disappointed that it was not consulted prior to these changes being made.

I found this personally disappointing given Police have often accused the community for failing to communicate with and assist police. I quote from Commissioner Ryan from the Daily Telegraph, 2 March:

"..we are limited by a lack of co-operation generally by the community"

I like to stress communication and trust building is a two way process.

PECAC

The Police Commissioner chairs PECAC Police and Ethnic Communities Advisory Council. There are 12 community representatives and there is not one for the past two years to represent the Vietnamese-speaking community, although I know this year at least two applied.

While I agree with the Commissioner that it is impossible for all communities to be represented, I would have thought that the Vietnamese community, being the 5^th largest in NSW and the largest by far in Cabramatta should be represented.

I know that some other communities have at least two representatives on PECAC.

It does leave me with the impression that Police have very little hope of understanding the Cabramatta community.

And how does this impact on residents?

To quote from the Sun Herald on 16 April:

"Last week, instead of calling the police after another robbery, residents called on Fairfield City Councillor Thang Ngo"

I do apologise to the Committee for the reference to me, but it is the most recent example I can find to demonstrate a lack of confidence and trust in the local Police. Residents naturally turn to someone who understands them – note, they didn’t call on the Police’s Vietnamese-speaking ECLO either.

Police Attitude

Perhaps the most obvious indicator that Police are struggling to come to terms with the multicultural residents through comments made by the Deputy Police Commissioner. Mr Jarratt’s said at this Committee’s hearing last month, and I quote:

"If I can read from the 1996 census. There are a total of 67,197 people [in Cabramatta]… and of those, 20,643 speak English only. The other languages are Cantonese, Mandarin, Croatian…." (p 20, 8 Nov transcript)

And Mr Jarratt listed in total 21 languages which included Netherlandic.

I read this to be a rather defeatist attitude which says it is all too hard to police these ethnics, as the Hon Lee Rhiannon said later this may not have been intended (p 23, 8 Nov transcript) but like her, this was the impression I got.

The committee will remember earlier, I had simply ranked the five languages most spoken and concluded that the top 3 (which includes English) will cover almost 60% of languages spoken in Fairfield (and I argue even higher for Cabramatta as the Asian concentration is higher).

This is nothing simpler than the 80-20 rule, which says you can get significant coverage by targeting the top segments.

I am disappointed the perception given is that the police are overwhelmed by Cabramatta’s cultural diversity.

In fact the whole argument is circular, Mr Jarratt goes on to say in response to the Hon Lee Rhiannon (p 23 transcript)

"I put to the committee that it is a two-way street. We can not recruit people of any particular ethnic origin if that community does not put forward its young people to become police officers".

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I failed to find evidence (and have not had a response from the police) of an advertising recruitment campaign for ethnic police in the past two years at least, while Victoria carried out a campaign in March this year.

It would be hard for people to apply if they do not feel welcomed through an active recruitment campaign. I note that last year, Police took part in Mardi Gras and also conducted a dedicated recruitment campaign for gay police. I don’t think it would be unfair to ask for an ethnic police recruitment drive.

To me, it appears as if the NSW Police service is struggling with Cabramatta’s cultural diversity.

How else can you explain Mr Jarratt leaving the option for the merger of Cabramatta Police Station with Fairfield.

For days after that statement the community pleaded with me to help knock that plan on the head. Residents already have trouble communicating, they felt at least they could come to the Station and gesticulate and play charade to get their message through.

Any gesticulation would be more difficult if the Station is 3.5km further away in Fairfield, given there is already a lack of in-language support by phone.

Our residents can not simply pick up a phone like everyone else. 

Conclusion

The only thing that remains for me to say is what I started out saying, it’s the residents who often don’t speak English and are silent and unheard that matters, because they are the people who have to live in Cabramatta after (respectfully) you have all gone back home.

They are the people that need your help.

I am no QC, so I know that I have probably not done them justice in my submission today, so I would like to leave you with something that came directly from local residents.

And that is a petition of over 50 people which I collected in a few short hours last Saturday. It says simply:

To Police Commissioner Peter Ryan and NSW parliament:

We are sick of drug deals being made in broad daylight in Cabramatta.

We want Police to do more to catch drug dealers in Cabramatta.

And finally, and I suppose it is a petition of sorts - is a letter, sent to me by eight year six students from Cabramatta West Pubic School on 26 June this year. I have taken the liberty of taking out their names to protect their identity and I’d like to quote a few words from this heart-wrenching letter:

"We want to express our concern about the Hughes Street Playground [in Cabramatta], which is near some of our homes. It is not a safe place because of the number of syringes lying around the playground. Also we have been approached by addicts and have seen them in the yards of our units. Some of us have also seen addicts with knives and we are scared. We have come across people lying on the ground with their lips turning purple and stuff coming out of their mouths"