NightCare
Tonight I inform the House of a great initiative to combat alcohol abuse in our community. In an age where the community is plagued by binge drinking, especially among youth, and the emergence of alcohol-related violence in bars, pubs and clubs, it is important to mention the positive and successful stories that come from effective partnerships between local communities, Christian churches and local police.
NightCare has been operating in Newcastle since 2000 as a partnership between Newcastle City Council and four groups—Mayfield Baptist Church, Newcastle City Church, DrugArm New South Wales and the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese. With support from Newcastle council and local police, the NightCare initiative aims to reduce alcohol-related crime and violence, while NightCare volunteers provide informal counselling, as well as offering support and referrals for people with drug and alcohol addictions to social service facilities available throughout the city of Newcastle and surrounding regions.
NightCare was funded for four years by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation and became one of its demonstration projects for helping to tackle binge drinking. The program is also an integral component of Newcastle City Council’s Crime Prevention and Community Safety Strategy. NightCare volunteers work in teams of six each Friday and Saturday night between 10.30 p.m. and 2.30 a.m. It is estimated that each week they receive more than 1,000 visitors over both nights. Volunteers operate free late-night barbecues at various hot spots around the Newcastle city centre where police have identified high rates of assaults, vandalism and antisocial behaviour.
The free barbecues have created a safe refuge for people to sit down for a chat or a warm drink. According to the NightCare progress report, between 2005 and 2006 NightCare served more than 90,000 people across Newcastle and the service has grown four times its original capacity. The team from Mayfield Baptist Church previously was located at three bases: the railway and bus interchange on Hunter Street, the south end of Newcastle mall and Civic Park, Newcastle.
However, since March 2008 the number of visitors has diminished significantly following the introduction of the 1.00 a.m. curfew and 3.00 a.m. closure of inner-city licence venues. Hence, there has been a different atmosphere in the inner-city on Friday and Saturday nights. The volume of people in the inner-city has declined and incidents are less frequent and less severe. At present, Mayfield Baptist Church operates the only remaining NightCare on Saturday nights in the Hunter Street mall. This site is close to one of the city’s popular nightspots and on busy nights about 700 people come to the barbecue. While a number of homeless people visit the site, the vast majority of visitors are young revellers who have been binge drinking. Dennis Malone, the team coordinator of NightCare, said:
This program has had a positive impact on crime in the area and we find that if you can show people some generosity it often diffuses any anger they have.
A study conducted by the Department of Psychology of the University of Newcastle, which was part of the Newcastle City Council’s evaluation of the NightCare program in its early stages, found evidence of modified behaviour. On speaking to hundreds of visitors at three inner-city NightCare locations, the university researchers found that the sites generated a positive atmosphere where people felt safe and appreciated and there was a sense of belonging to the community.
There are many stories of successful outcomes—individuals whose lives have been changed, people who obtained work and people who faced up to their addictions. I thank the volunteers of Mayfield Baptist Church for their tireless work, guidance and continuing assistance to those who have been afflicted by alcohol and drug abuse. They truly are the guardian angels of Newcastle’s NightCare.
They are Dennis Malone, director and leader of the program, Kevin Robinson, David Gaghan, Milton Caine, Joanna Hamilton, Leah Adair, Jess and Doug Murray, Keiran Bayl, Raul Kesser, Keith Wilson, Henry Ponson, Jonathan Ponson, Seth Madden, Laura Dunn, Ben Calder, Paula Chesterfield, Boyd Cowan, Brad Herd, Gary and Cheryl Inward, Iain McGill, John Lee, Jonathan Jonas, Peter Martin, Simon Burrow, Ted Flower and Julian Grayson.
These people have given up their Friday and Saturday nights from 10.30 p.m. to 2.30 a.m. in order to serve people in the community who have drug and alcohol problems. This service has helped the community, violence has decreased and people feel they are appreciated and wanted in their own city.
