About Sydney South West
Sydney south west: poster region for NSW metropolitan crime.
Bleak, hard and violent – for a long time now the stereotype of life here has evolved – today we’re a rattling urban myth.
Not long after the infamous 2005 Macquarie Fields riots empty beer bottles lining street curbs, graffiti spattered buildings and derelict houses with overgrown yards became uniquely ’south west’. The image stuck and despite our many positive elements, we find ourselves custodians of an enduring cultural cringe.
Surely though there’s some factual basis from which these ideas have sprung?
The NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research has recorded an 82.5% increase of possession and/or use of amphetamines over the past two years for the area. Drug offences have gone up 41.1% and incidents of trespass have increased by 21.5%.
Outer south western Sydney has the highest rate of inquiries* for state funded legal services including the Legal Aid Helpline, Mental Health Advocacy Service, Prisoners Legal Service, Veterans Advocacy Service, Child Support Service and the Legal Aid HotLine for Under 18s (* per 1000 per annum).
With some of the most alarming incidence of crime and a unique youth and migrant demographic, a basic understanding of the law, an institution that affects every person, is important. We are home to many of the state’s housing commission complexes and our community includes some of the most disadvantaged.
Like a scab that just won’t go away we are an exmaple of need in NSW. It is easy then to feel isolated and lack empowerment – believe it or not the law is here and it is on your side!
Our region has a clear need for information and as a collective a need for social progress. Better access to knowledge, programs to facilitate our understanding of the system and stories to help and inspire can all be found on this blog with just a click.
Join us each month for a current, topical view of life in SWS.
For women and the law.
*For more statistical information regarding crime in Outer South Western Sydney see here.
*For the purposes of this project blog the region extending from the inner south-west suburbs around Canterbury and Bankstown to the outer south-west suburbs around Campbelltown will be referred.
Click the here to see a map.
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