Dubbo rehab facility dispute: Council, MP fire up over funding
A feud between Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders and a council he says is “frivolously spending money” has intensified, with the local mayor unapologetic about the spending because he says the government has got “no results”.
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A row about the need for a drug rehabilitation facility in Western NSW has intensified with Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders taking aim at a council’s decision to spend $30,000 on a campaign aimed at securing funding for the facility in the upcoming NSW Budget.
Using money from its liveability directorate’s budget, Dubbo Regional Council has been running advertisements and events to promote the need for a rehab facility, build support and apply pressure on the state government to fund it.
The latest NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows amphetamine use and possession in the Far West and Orana regions increased by 14.4 per cent from June 2015 to June 2020.
The regions also had the second highest rate of amphetamine use and possession in the state (235.2 per 100,000 people) between July 2019 and June 2020 — behind only the Sydney City and Inner South regions.
Mr Saunders says a rehab facility is needed and that he’s working behind the scenes to secure funding for it, despite deteriorating state finances.
“I remain confident that in the budget there will be some funding there for a rehab facility,” he said.
“I can’t 100 per cent promise it and everything is now on the credit card, but I’ve spoken at length with the Health Minister and the Treasurer and I remain confident there’ll be a good outcome for Dubbo.”
The council’s decision to spend money campaigning for a rehab facility was criticised further by Mr Saunders, who said the money could be better spent on infrastructure.
“They’ve got a marketing person actively working for council on lobbying for a rehab centre which I am already working on.
“The facility, its funding and its running will be a state and federal government issue.
“It will have nothing at all to do with local government and it’s lovely that they want to advocate for something and they’ve done that up to a point really well, but using ratepayers money to try and put a feather in a cap of a few councillors who wanted ‘social issues’ on the agenda is not what council is for.”
Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Ben Shields said support for the need for a rehab facility had grown in recent years, as more families and community members were affected by drug addiction and drug-fuelled crime.
“We cannot continue to afford to just put people in jail and hope for the best,” he said.
“Too many politicians are paying lip service to this community when it comes to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre.
“They say they are pushing for it, they say they are talking to ministers or treasurers or something, but again getting absolutely no result. It has now gone too far and it has gotten out of hand, action needs to happen sooner rather than later.”
Mr Saunders accused council of using its Dubbo Needs A Rehab campaign to score political points.
“Council’s role is fairly clear. Rubbish, roads and rates. It’s not about things about that are run by state and federal governments.
“Politically, it’s council trying to score points in a space where they should actually not play.
“The extra [money] they could be spending on roads now after rain and that sort of thing would go a long way and actually make a difference to peoples lives, as opposed to frivolously spending money on a social issues campaign which is not a local government issue.”
Council’s liveability director Skye Price confirmed council allocated $30,000 to spend on the campaign and she said “ideally council would not focus social services resources on something that is essentially a state issue”.
“However, due to the lack of facilities for residential alcohol and other drug rehabilitation in the region, and the overwhelming desire for such a facility from the community, council openly undertook to take action on behalf of the community,” Ms Price said.
Mr Saunders said talk now needed to turn to how a rehab and detox facility would operate in practice.
“It’s sort of accepted that we are moving, and we need to progress this to a point where it actually happens.
“For some people you can detox at home, depending on what you’re coming down from.
“You might look at building a rehab facility which has detox, but you might also not put the detox there, you might have it at say Dubbo Base and then they do detox for 3 or 4 days then they’re ready to go to rehab and they’re admitted and progress through the program.
“When they come out as well, you still need all that mental health support back around them to check back in everyday for probably three weeks and stick to a program.”
The NSW Budget will be handed down on November 17.