Calls to establish Drug Court in the Illawarra to help combat rising rates of crime due to addiction

Moves are underway to persuade the State Government to extend the NSW Drug Court to the Illawarra, with its proven record of fighting drug addiction and drug-related crime.

Solicitor Matt Ward, on behalf of the Wollongong and District Law Society, has lodged a submission to the NSW Attorney General Michael Daley, outlining the region’s need for the Drug Court’s intense community-based rehabilitation program for eligible drug-dependent offenders who would otherwise be sentenced to full-time jail.

In his submission, Matt pointed out that the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) analysed a five-year trend up to March 2024 and found a high level of drug-related offending in the Illawarra.

“In the 12 months to March 2024, the region’s rate of possession and use of cocaine, narcotics, cannabis, amphetamines and ecstasy was higher than the NSW state average,” Matt said.

The first NSW Drug Court started in Parramatta in 1999 and now also exists in Sydney, Toronto, and Dubbo.

It differs from existing drug services in that it is a court-based program with a balance of professional support and close monitoring with regular drug checks. It is only available to those who plead guilty to serious non-violent offences and who have a drug addiction.

“Fixing that underlying addiction creates a positive flow-on effect for not only the offender and their families, but also members of the community like the many shop and business owners who are robbed to support drug habits,” Matt said.

Drug Court reviews show that it has a high rate of success and is cheaper than full-time custody.

Joint researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW and BOCSAR found that treating drug-related offenders was more effective than sending them to prison.

By comparing two groups of defendants for 13 years, they found those on the Drug Court program had a 17 per cent lower reoffending rate than those who were deemed eligible but who were not placed on it.

If approved, the Drug Court could operate within the existing Wollongong Courthouse building, or other regional courts, with an appointed District Court judge and staff dedicated to supervising and managing the program.

The aim is to create a South Coast region that would take in the Illawarra down to Nowra.

“I’ve become passionate about establishing this court because I’ve seen too many lives unravel through addiction, and it happens quickly,” Matt said.

“It’s become soul-destroying when those people facing jail say to you, I need help and I want to do the Drug Court program … all I can say to them is, ‘No, because you live in the wrong part of the state’.

“Of course, for certain offending, people have to receive custodial sentences, but if we’re serious about rehabilitation for addicts, jail does not assist.”

Matt, who has been working in the region for over a decade, said drug addiction affected all ages and all walks of life, from highflyers to those who lived on the street.

“Drug culture changes over time and there is now more cocaine and MDMA (ecstasy) being used by young people these days but that sort of use is now often picked up by road-side police swabs,” he said.

“The biggest worry I see today is the prevalence of crystal methamphetamine. The nature of this addiction and what people do on that substance is by far the most troubling. People will have different reactions to it including extreme violence.”

Matt is keen to see the whole community drawn into the fight for the NSW Drug Court and is working on petitions and organising high level discussions involving members of parliament.

“Everybody from the ground up knows the Drug Court works, but the impediment is just getting it out there to all locations that need it,” he says.