Dear Community, The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly in Parliament.
Dear Community, The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly in Parliament.
Western Sydney is our home.
Western Sydney is also inundated with home invasive and callous robberies.
We all have a sister, an elderly uncle, a grandmother, a cousin, a friend, a neighbour or even our own experience of being robbed of not only material value, but robbed of precious and irreplaceable memories, feelings of safety and robbed of trust in this community as a whole.
Personally,
I remember when I was working as a disability support worker and one summer morning when I was routinely visiting a kind-hearted balding, ordinarily jolly middle-aged man living with an intellectual disability. Let's call him Dan.
One particular crisp Summer morning, we were going to go for our weekly bike ride around the community.
Dan's only form of exercise and one activity he found genuine joy in sharing with (me) his support worker, maybe you enjoy the pub? or Golf? Dan just liked to ride his bike with good company.
He was and is a sweet man with simple pleasures.
I still remember, getting out of my car after I arrived that morning and walking up to Dan with a big smile only to hear him say.
In a scared and uncharacteristically small voice:
"No Riding Anymore Sophie. No Riding."
I thought he was joking so I remember saying "Why ever not, C'mon?"
He answered back with genuine sadness in his voice:
"My Bike has been stolen."
This man lived in an old peoples village in a suburb close to Rouse Hill.
These Robberies are cruel, targetted and without remorse. All I wanted that day was to get Dan's bike back. After all, it belonged to Dan.
I couldn't.
Dan never got his bike back. His parents bought him that bike for his 40th Christmas.
Dan also developed severe anxiety in his village and lost trust in his little gated community.
A community where he bought his own home from working fulltime for over ten years in a factory doing manual labour.
A community where he once smiled at everyone and didn't count how many times he locked the door.
He does now.
Every. Single. Day.
I want to give you a happy ending here but I actually can't. but perhaps I can give you a kinder and more accountable future, a future where that Bike would be traceable, Your Nan's Jewellery would be traceable and where houses may be left untouched because of a piece of adhesive on a mailbox.
Dear Community, The Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly in Parliament. I need you to dramatically decrease theft by legislating that all licensed secondhand goods dealers and brokers consult a database before purchasing goods presented to them. This database is free to Police to view and free for the public to register upon. A database where true ownership is imprinted so items like Dan's Bike can't be converted from someones favourite passtime to cash without consent.
The truth is we are all in the midst and the clutches of an Ice Epidemic, It is everywhere, People are stealing for it like it is precious gold and we are all feeling the lack of warmth. I have watched people I grew up with loose their hair, their homes, their minds and their bodies.
There are millions of stories like Dan's, but Dan's one hurt me.
We are resilient, we are strong.
Therefore, we demand the legislation change so that Licensed Second-Hand Dealers and Brokers to mandatorily consult a database before purchasing goods presented to them. As these goods, a moderate percentage of the time are often stolen out of desperation to purchase the drug that is infecting our streets.
Please give this community a fighting chance to fight back. Times have changed, The law needs to change too.
Please regulate the use of Protectyourgoods.com.au as a necessity rather than a choice and give Western Sydney a proper voice.
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