NSW: Problem people in public housing should be moved on, council
07 Jan 2009 9:02 AM
SYDNEY, Jan 7 AAP - Troublesome people living in public housing areas in Sydney's south-west should be relocated, the local council says after a bloody late-night brawl involving 100 residents.
Two men were shot and four other males, as young as 16, were stabbed in a late night brawl in a public housing area in Rosemeadow on Tuesday.
Police said the violence was fuelled by alcohol and summer heat.
The area went into lockdown after the mass brawl broke out among about 100 people gathered in Macbeth Way.
Knives, baseball bats, axes and at least one firearm was used in the confrontation between warring families in a small section of the estate, south of Campbelltown.
Campbelltown's deputy mayor Paul Lake says the state and federal governments should work to improve the area.
"Council can only do certain things with certain funds available so it's up to the state and federal governments to, in a sense, pull their finger out and get things done," Mr Lake told ABC Radio on Wednesday.
If people felt trapped in public housing areas, they should approach the Housing Commission, Mr Lake said.
"I don't want to pass the buck but it's a state issue.
"If they feel like they're trapped then they have to approach the Housing Commission ... and ask if they can be relocated.
"I think it's probably more if they could relocate some of the problem people in the area, that would help immensely."
NSW Housing Minister David Borger said the government was working to improve public housing areas across the state.
"There has been a lot of work in turning around some of the very poor planning ... of the 1970s," Mr Borger told ABC radio.
"We still have a way to go."
