When I visited Kalgoorlie-Boulder this week, I expected to encounter a community frustrated with the state government, Western Power and Telstra for their abject failure to prepare and respond to a prolonged and devastating power and communications outage.
Instead, what I found were community members, businesses, and local leaders frustrated by the worst anti-social behaviour they had ever witnessed and being met with total apathy from elected officials.
In response to growing angst from business owners, the Kalgoorlie-Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a forum earlier this week to discuss anti-social behaviour and crime in the community.
The KBCCI was blown away by the turnout, with 25 businesses initially RSVPing to attend, and more than 70 showing up on the day, prompting the need for a bigger venue.
of the reality of doing business in one of WA’s most prosperous and important regional cities.
One resident said the anti-social behaviour was the worst they had seen in 50 years, and for many, the recent outages only exacerbated the issue.
A vicious and violent attack saw a newsagent owner dragged onto the street, where she had her head smashed into the ground, her hand stomped on, and was threatened with scissors.
A local jeweller was ram-raided and had every panel of glass in their store smashed. A young woman working in a retail outlet was threatened with rape.
Another shop owner was forced to lock her doors and barricade herself, tourists, and an elderly woman inside her store, as her front and back windows were smashed in until police eventually arrived.
I met with business owners in Boulder who confirmed police responses were far too slow – often arriving hours after an incident had occurred and the alleged perpetrators had long since left the scene.
One shop owner told me she no longer bothered to call police, as they rarely responded, and in the rare event where charges were laid, no recompense was provided, and those responsible were back on the streets shortly afterwards.
Another told me they felt powerless to stand up to shoplifters for fear it would paint a target on their store, resulting in further property damage or threats to staff.
I acknowledge WA Police officers are doing the best they can with the limited resources available, the deafening silence and lack of support from the state Labor government is inexcusable.
If Labor is serious about addressing crime and anti-social behaviour in the Goldfields, it’s clear a stronger police presence is needed to tackle these issues and reassure businesses and the wider community that they are listening and acting.
Issues like street drinking and sly-grogging are rife, and many businesses feel laws around these are not being enforced.
Sly-grogging – the practice of supplying alcohol to dry communities or people on the banned drinkers register – is reprehensible behaviour and needs to be stamped out.
This can only occur if police have the resources to enforce and prosecute those doing the wrong thing.
The state government also needs to get real about the damage caused by the federal government’s withdrawal of the Indue cashless debit card last year.
It’s no coincidence that the spike in anti-social behaviour and crime has occurred in the aftermath of this.
When the Albanese government axed the card, they also promised a raft of wraparound supports to help communities better manage issues associated with alcohol abuse.
The feedback I have heard from communities is that these services have not been delivered, and that responsibility for managing these issues is falling back on local governments and not-for-profit agencies, who are inadequately resourced to address these complex social issues.
Residents and businesses have plenty of ideas for potential local solutions, but they can’t do it without support from the state and federal governments.
More short-stay and crisis accommodation is needed in the Goldfields to manage the influx of residents who travel to Kalgoorlie-Boulder to access healthcare and other government services, only to find themselves stranded and sleeping rough.
More transport services are also desperately needed to get residents back to Country in a timely manner.
And more support is needed to ensure sobering up centres, community street patrols, Aboriginal healthcare services and other wraparound services are adequately staffed and resourced to do their jobs effectively.
The current situation in Kalgoorlie-Boulder is nothing short of shameful.
A region which contributes so much to the economic wealth of WA and the nation should never feel this neglected by their elected representatives.