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Aus - The small town taking a stand against ice and domestic violence
Video on link (9.5 mins) -
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: In Australia's remote Indigenous communities, domestic violence is rarely spoken about. But there's one small town in north-western New South Wales where people are now breaking that taboo after the death of a young mum.
Police say she was the victim of domestic violence and that woman's tragic case is far from isolated.
The town's doctor says the situation is so out of control, with ice use amplifying aggression and paranoia when it comes to users, that he can't take it anymore.
Adam Harvey and Dale Owens filed this report from Brewarrina.
TAMARA BONEY: And we came home on the Saturday morning and they were sitting there in the kitchen, they were drinking a can of Jack Daniels.
ADAM HARVEY, REPORTER: An 18-year-old woman was killed in this house during a party on Anzac Day.
Tamara Boney was one of the last to see her alive.
TAMARA BONEY: They were just all in the lounge room after that, after we had a munch and stuff and then we were all dancing and that was it.
ADAM HARVEY: Police say the young mother was bashed to death by her boyfriend.
Her family has asked us not to name her or show her photograph for cultural reasons.
TAMARA BONEY: I went for a walk and then I came back and I saw the police car down, out the front there and then - and then it was like, "What's happening in the street?" And then saw my Auntie walking down the street (becoming emotional) and that's when she told me that she'd died.
ADAM HARVEY: The young victim and her boyfriend were both using the drug ice.
The death has devastated a tiny community plagued by domestic violence and drugs.
On the wettest day in years, locals rallied to say: enough.
TRISH FRAIL: It's starting to get that way now that, within the Aboriginal community, people believe that it's cultural, and so they're accepting domestic violence. And so we've got to get that message back out there to say, "No, it's not a part of our culture."
ADAM HARVEY: Trish Frail is a community leader in Brewarrina who helped organise the rally.
TRISH FRAIL: People are now more interested in that drugs than their family and their culture, and scoring and selling, that's what everybody thinks of nowadays.
ADAM HARVEY: Ice, the crystallised form of methamphetamine, is now the drug of choice in remote Indigenous communities.
DEE KENNEDY: I was sort of hurt by a stranger, but the stranger was my partner I'd lived with for 18 years. He wasn't himself and I think it's a lot to do with that drug.
ADAM HARVEY: For Dee Kennedy, ice turned a volatile relationship into a vicious one. Both she and her partner were using the drug.
DEE KENNEDY: The worst for us was the arguments, like, who was this person? I'd scream and yell obscenities at my partner like I hated him.
ADAM HARVEY: They were also spending all their spare cash on ice.
Cont -
The 9 and a half minute video of it -
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4231818.htm
Video on link (9.5 mins) -
Transcript
LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: In Australia's remote Indigenous communities, domestic violence is rarely spoken about. But there's one small town in north-western New South Wales where people are now breaking that taboo after the death of a young mum.
Police say she was the victim of domestic violence and that woman's tragic case is far from isolated.
The town's doctor says the situation is so out of control, with ice use amplifying aggression and paranoia when it comes to users, that he can't take it anymore.
Adam Harvey and Dale Owens filed this report from Brewarrina.
TAMARA BONEY: And we came home on the Saturday morning and they were sitting there in the kitchen, they were drinking a can of Jack Daniels.
ADAM HARVEY, REPORTER: An 18-year-old woman was killed in this house during a party on Anzac Day.
Tamara Boney was one of the last to see her alive.
TAMARA BONEY: They were just all in the lounge room after that, after we had a munch and stuff and then we were all dancing and that was it.
ADAM HARVEY: Police say the young mother was bashed to death by her boyfriend.
Her family has asked us not to name her or show her photograph for cultural reasons.
TAMARA BONEY: I went for a walk and then I came back and I saw the police car down, out the front there and then - and then it was like, "What's happening in the street?" And then saw my Auntie walking down the street (becoming emotional) and that's when she told me that she'd died.
ADAM HARVEY: The young victim and her boyfriend were both using the drug ice.
The death has devastated a tiny community plagued by domestic violence and drugs.
On the wettest day in years, locals rallied to say: enough.
TRISH FRAIL: It's starting to get that way now that, within the Aboriginal community, people believe that it's cultural, and so they're accepting domestic violence. And so we've got to get that message back out there to say, "No, it's not a part of our culture."
ADAM HARVEY: Trish Frail is a community leader in Brewarrina who helped organise the rally.
TRISH FRAIL: People are now more interested in that drugs than their family and their culture, and scoring and selling, that's what everybody thinks of nowadays.
ADAM HARVEY: Ice, the crystallised form of methamphetamine, is now the drug of choice in remote Indigenous communities.
DEE KENNEDY: I was sort of hurt by a stranger, but the stranger was my partner I'd lived with for 18 years. He wasn't himself and I think it's a lot to do with that drug.
ADAM HARVEY: For Dee Kennedy, ice turned a volatile relationship into a vicious one. Both she and her partner were using the drug.
DEE KENNEDY: The worst for us was the arguments, like, who was this person? I'd scream and yell obscenities at my partner like I hated him.
ADAM HARVEY: They were also spending all their spare cash on ice.
Cont -
The 9 and a half minute video of it -
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4231818.htm
