Mrs Sudmalis, who said she was deeply concerned about the growing ice related problems in her electorate, hopes to have a local centre funded by both state and federal governments established.

“There are currently organisations funded in NSW and the ACT under the Non Government Organisation Treatment Grants Program and the Substance Misuse Service Delivery Grants Fund and I want one in the Shoalhaven,” she said.

“It is on my wish list for Gilmore and I will be doing whatever I can to get one here.”

Mrs Sudmalis said the centres were funded under an 80/20 arrangement between the state and federal governments.

“I want to research the centres more and figure out the funding, how much they cost, how many beds it involves and how many staff.

“Of course we will also have to talk to our state counterparts.

“We also need to look at provisions of detox rehabilitation for children.”

South Coast MP Shelley Hancock described ice as a scourge on society and called on the community to band together to fight the drug.

“We can’t bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away, we have to stand up for ourselves and that starts with the community reporting everything to police,” she said.

“Ice is a serious problem everywhere but as a mother and grandmother I’m appalled ice has taken hold in any community, let alone ours.

“Our young people are vulnerable, and if they happen to mix with the wrong crowd or through peer pressure they can be at risk.”

Mrs Hancock said there were a number of counselling and drug and alcohol services in the Shoalhaven but she hadn’t been contacted by any saying they were “overloaded”.

“As a government we can assess the problems in regional, rural and urban areas to see if rehab services are working adequately and if not we may have to increase the budget or our young people will die.”

“If we can’t do something it is serious, ice is a scourge on our state we may need to up the ante for rehabilitation to assist young people.

“Perhaps locally we could access some of the beds in the acute mental health centre at Shoalhaven Hospital.