Maria Moore
If your car’s been tampered you know exactly who to go and see…

We’ve been here in Minto six years. I was pregnant when I arrived. It was worse then, than it is now. It’s quietened down. It sort of goes in cycles, three year cycles. The trouble comes from the outside in.

I’ve made a few mates here: Brenda, Bradley, Rachel, just the ones in this street. Our street’s been excellent. We’ll pop in and probably see each other for about half an hour, and then pop out. We make sure everything’s okay, or if we go out, we always tell one of our neighbours and they keep an eye on our house while we’re away.

I tried to get to Sarah Redfern but that’s a rough school. I’m teaching assistant at Campbellfields. I go in and help the kindergartens with their reading and their writing and different bits and pieces you know. If they have a concert, I go up and help them with the costumes and all that sort of stuff.

I’m a bit worried as they are smashing down the houses. My little one is allergic to the dust, so I’ve got to have the house all locked up, especially when they were doing the ones behind us.

I think there’s been more bad things than good things happening here. Not to us personally, but in the neighbourhood. You get to know who the ones who are, like the thieves, and the ones who pinch the cars. So if your car gets tampered, you know exactly who to go and see when you live in this sort of complex.

The car’s been got into a couple of times and we’ve gone and seen them nicely and they’ve just said, “No it wasn’t us, go and see such and such”. So then we’ve gone and seen them, and they say “yay” or “nay”. You can tell when they’re lying!

The first couple of years our car was always broken into, but I think as time’s gone on, they know that we know and they don’t bother.