COMMUNITIES are standing together in the fight against juvenile crime in Moree – and this was clearly evident at a town meeting at Jellicoe Park on Saturday.

Meeting co-organiser Col Pring and Moree Plains Shire deputy mayor Wayne Tighe spoke about how Moree was united in the battle against escalating crime across the shire.

“We have a lot of Aboriginal families in this community who are victims of crime. We’ve been saying this right from the start,” Mr Pring said.

“The victims of crime are not just white. They are also black.”

Moree elder, Paula Duncan, the daughter of Moree statesman, the late Lyall Munro Senior, told how at least 200 Aboriginal families have been the victims of crime in Moree in recent times – including herself.

The Munro family home in which Mrs Duncan grew up, last month burned to the ground in a suspected act of arson.

Mrs Duncan has been pushing for a curfew in Moree for decades, and has renewed the call to keep people off the streets late at night.

“To be fair dinkum about saving this town, all the people have to come together, not just a handful,” Mrs Duncan said.

“I’ve been speaking at meetings for 35 years and pushing for curfews in this town for all that time, and nobody wants to know about it.

“I’ve talked to the police and council about it, and they’re all passing the buck. Nobody wants to know.

“Most of these crimes are from 12 (midnight) to half-past five in the morning. I’m adamant this town needs to push for a curfew, to keep people off the streets from 10.30pm until 5.30am,” she said.

Mrs Duncan, 74, wants to trial a curfew in Moree for 12 months.

“I really think this town should start pushing for a curfew,” she said.

“Othe towns have trialled them, including Ballina. They’ve still got it, and it’s working in a lot of places. At least it’s keeping people off the streets,” she said.

“We’re at war – that’s what’s happening here, and it needs to be stopped.”

Moree deputy mayor Wayne Tighe told how he and mayor Susannah Pearse last month met and spoke with Premier Chris Minns in Moree.

Cr Tighe told the premier about the town’s concerns, and spoke for all community members.

“I told him the police are tired. They walk (offenders) from the police station to the court house next door and watch them walk out again,” Cr Tighe said.

“We need to keep petitioning our governments for support and changes to the laws.”

Cr Tighe said Moree’s Aboriginal community was equally concerned and appalled.

“There was a meeting between the Aboriginal community at Pius, and they are just as concerned,” Cr Tighe said.

“A lot of the elders got up and spoke, and they spoke about drugs and crime, saying drugs are the biggest issues.

“The drug problem in Moree is the driving force behind what’s happening in our community. If we can stop the drugs, I firmly believe we can stop the crime.”

Cr Pearse told the gathering, statistics for the Moree Plains LGA were alarming.

“The stats are not OK,” Cr Pearse said.

“We have the highest statistics for aggravated break-and-enter and car theft. We also have the highest statistics for family and domestic violence, and if you delve into some of the statistics into our waste-water sampling, we have some of the highest statistics for drug and substance abuse in our community,” she said.

“So, when we’re calling on our government to tackle the crime, we need to call on the government to tackle the domestic and family violence, and to tackle the drugs in our community.

“As a council, this is the number one issue we’ve had the community talking to us about. We need to see action, because this is defining our community – and it shouldn’t be.

“Our community has got so much more going for it, and we need to be hitting the headlines for the good reasons and all the good things in this town, and the very good things that our people do,” she said.

Mr Pring said the town meeting shows the people of Moree want laws changed.

“The idea of getting here today was to show that we’ve had enough,” Mr Pring said.

“We can’t change anything today, but we can start pushing the barrow for change. Not only for us, but for our state and our country.”

Mr Pring encourages everyone in New South Wales to sign a ePetition calling for change.

The ePetition can be viewed and signed HERE.

Related story: Family tells Moree town meeting about the tragedy that changed their lives forever