I had lunch with a cousin only a couple of weeks ago who lives in Murray Bridge. ( the town featured in the story ). He said the place was simply riddled with hard drugs. He would like to move because of the problem, but his house is unsaleable and he would never get enough money for it to move anywhere else so he is trapped. His own family has been touched by the drug problems with devastating results.
Another nephew who lived in Murray bridge managed to get out around 12 months ago. Their house was on the market for many months and in the end they just sold it for whatever they could get ( at a huge loss ) as they had young children and did not want them to go to school in the town. A family related to the local prison moved into a house nearby and the street became a centre for hard drug dealing. Clapped out cars coming and going constantly and regular outbreaks of verbal abuse, petty crime etc.
Murray Bridge has a major prison which attracts families of inmates. It also has a large " new migrant " population, many of whom do not speak English. The parents come looking for cheap housing and work in the agricultural service industries, but unfortunately the teenage kids often get into trouble. It also has a very large population of long term unemployed people, attracted by the cheap housing and extensive government social services who dont contribute much to the town. It also has a strong indiginous community, who have all of the same social problems as other marginilised aboriginal communities.
The local meatworks is the towns largest employer and that has recently recieved very extensive damage in a fire. Around 1000 people have lost their jobs as a result. I had the " opportunity " to spend a day at the Murray Bridge court house recently, supporting a friend. ( who was a victim of gung ho SA policing, had not done anything wrong and was not convicted ) Boy was that an eye opener.
The place has almost become a ghetto, or like something out of a Mad Max movie. I dont think the article is exagerating the extent of the problem and I am sure there would be many, many pre teenage ice addicts in the town. Drive down the backstreets on any school day and you see these young kids wandering around.
Pity really as Murray Bridge was once a proud, clean, important & vibrant regional centre with none of the issues it faces today. Its a classic example of how a place can be trashed when succesive governments decide to use it as dumping ground for societies problems. ( gets them out of the city and all in one place, removed from societies gaze, unless you take the road off of the main highway and visit the place )
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