Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

7.6.4. Young Asian people and drug premises
Research on the drug trade in Cabramatta has suggested that drug law enforcement in Cabramatta may have a disproportionate impact
on young Asian people, particularly those who are also drug users. In Running the Risks, an ethnographic study of the drug trade in
Cabramatta, it was argued that Asian people are more likely to fund their drug use by dealing, rather than by committing property crime. 656
It has also been suggested that because of this, high proportions of young Asian people are more likely to be apprehended in drug law
enforcement initiatives in the area. 657
In a submission to our discussion paper, one health worker from Cabramatta pointed to the high unemployment in the area as a reason
why young Asian people may become involved in the drug trade:
The most vulnerable group in the community is the Indo-Chinese community. Because of high unemployment young people get
involved in the drug trade as it is often seen as “easy money”. They are often paid to bring clients in or take drugs to clients. 658
Our research does indicate that about half of those under 18 who were charged under the Drug Premises Act in Cabramatta were of Asian
origin. 659 Of the ten males who were under 18 charged with the offence of being found on, entering or, leaving drug premises, five were of
Asian origin. One of the two females who were under 18 and charged with this offence, one was of Asian origin, and one was not. 660
7.6.5. Ethnicity and gender of people charged on drug premises in Cabramatta
Of those charged on drug premises in Cabramatta who were over eighteen years old, 60% were born in an Asian country: 72 of 118. 661
The highest proportion were born in Vietnam.
Most of those charged on drug premises in Cabramatta were male. Of those who were charged under the Act, 86, or just over 70% were
male, and 32 were female. 662
7.6.6. Homeless people living on drug premises
In an ethnographic study of homelessness in Cabramatta released in late 2001, it was reported that some drug houses give young
homeless people a place to stay, provided they agree to sell drugs from the premises. One 18 old Vietnamese-Australian male interviewed
for the report said:
Oh I was staying at a house, selling at a house so I got a place where I can stay. Someone else was renting it and I was selling in
there. So I stay in there for a long time too. So I was alright. And then came out. Then got raided and I came out here. 663
Concerns that the Act would have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups in the community, including young people and the
homeless, were raised in a submission by the NSW Council of Social Services that was quoted during parliamentary debate on the Act. In
the submission, concerns were expressed that children, the homeless and others “who are inadvertently involved with illicit drug activity for
various reasons, are potentially exposed to police arrest in drug houses”. 664
There was no evidence in the police documents or court records we examined that the young people found on drug premises were
on the premises because they were homeless. This type of information would most likely be found in court transcripts detailing the
circumstances of a person charged. However our examination of court transcripts was limited because of the high proportion of
defendants who pleaded guilty.
There were two instances in Cabramatta in which the Drug Premises Act was used on squats in the area. Concerns were raised about
one of these incidents in a report on youth homelessness in Cabramatta. According to the report, the house had been occupied by
successive groups of squatters since December 2000, and the original squatters did not sell drugs from the property. This group was
evicted by police, and replaced by a succession of occupants, and “it became increasingly difficult for the residents to control access to
the site and the use of drugs on the premises”. 665 The report stated that the squat eventually became a de facto injecting room and was
subject to repeated police raids. In the report, it was argued:
656 Lisa Maher, David Dixon, Michael Lynskey and Wayne Hall, Running the Risks, Heroin, Health and Harm in South West Sydney, National Drug and
Alcohol Research Centre University of NSW Monograph No.38, 1998. See, for example, pp. 60- 61.
657 David Dixon and Lisa Maher, “Anh Hai: Policing, Culture and Social Exclusion in a Street Heroin Market”, Policing and Society, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp
93-110.
658 Submission, Health Worker, Cabramatta, received 30 August 2003.
659 COPS database.
660 COPS database.
661 The countries of birth recorded by police were Cambodia, Thailand, China, Laos, Singapore and Vietnam.
662 COPS database.
663 Coupland, Heidi, Lisa Maher and Myly Thach, Every Day’s the Same, Youth Homelessness in Cabramatta, 2001, p. 21.
664 Hon I. Cohen, NSWPD, 7 June 2001, p. 14636.
665 Heidi Coupland, Lisa Maher and Myly Thach, Every Day’s the Same, Youth homelessness in Cabramatta, November 2001, p. 22.
NSW Ombudsman
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