TAMWORTH MP Kevin Anderson has blasted a bid to build ice rehab centres in regional areas and told Labor to “get real”.
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NSW Labor pledged to build six mandatory detox and rehab centres in NSW, including four regionally, if it’s elected in 2019.
Mr Anderson, who formerly led the city’s “Ice Action Group”, blasted the opposition leader, Luke Foley’s, proposal.
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“To play games with people’s lives and say he’s going to build four drug and alcohol detox centres in regional NSW, look I’m appalled by that,” Mr Anderson said.
“They don’t have the money to do that.
“Get real when you’re talking about stuff like that.”
While he was scathing in his assessment of Labor’s rehab recommendation, Mr Anderson said: “ultimately, we’re going to build a facility and it’s something we’re going to continue to work towards”.
Labor Duty MLC for Tamworth Daniel Mookhey said locations hadn’t been selected for the $100 million plan, but figured “northern NSW would be at the forefront of discussions”.
“We’re not going to beat the scourge of ice doing what we’ve always been doing,” Mr Mookhey said.
“The ice scourge has been afflicting NSW for years and we haven't had a policy from this government that has been up to the task.
“It shows we’re listening to regional NSW about the issue and we’re putting an announcement like this ahead of stadiums, we’d love to see the state government match our announcement.”
Tracey Filicietti’s family has been rocked by ice and worked with a number of drug action groups in town.
She said the Labor proposal would be a great idea.
“It’d need to have a really strong program,” she said.
“Bricks and mortar won’t fix the problem.”
Labor’s pledge would see six mandatory rehab facilities built in NSW and treat up to 1,300 ice addicts a year.