NSW DEPUTY Premier and Leader of The Nationals Andrew Stoner and Community Services Minister Pru Goward came to Apollo Estate with a $250,000 pledge of renewed funding and a promise of "meaningful change" for residents living in troubled east Dubbo housing estate.
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But exactly what those meaningful changes will include is still very much in the air.
The NSW Liberal party front benchers were in the city as part of the government's statewide Community Cabinet forums - and to recommit funding to the Apollo House Resilience Program.
The program targets young people and families at risk - helping pave new opportunities through education and skills development and by addressing the impact of drugs, alcohol and domestic violence.
A community action group has been formed to develop a set of recommendations said to have "sweeping changes" specific to Apollo Estate. But just what those recommendations include or how quickly it gets rolled out, neither Ms Goward or the deputy leader could answer.
"Obviously we are in a really tough financial situation right now so any added funding is always going to be difficult," Ms Goward said in front of Apollo House yesterday morning.
"No, we can't speak about what those recommendations will include," she said.
"It will be up to the government to consider them and come back with a package of changes to make life better for the people living in this estate; and other residents who from time-to-time have been unhappy with some of the activities occurring here."
Ms Goward said one of the greatest challenges would be to create a system where government agencies could work together.
"We have amazing restrictions governing the amount information related agencies can actually exchange... We need to get better at information exchange, we need to be better reporting incidents when they happen, and we need to get better at helping families when there are problems identified.
"We do not want another Gordon Estate," the minister said.
The minister's pledge for drastic reform was echoed by Mr Stoner who played down the need for added police intervention to stem the seemingly growing unrest in Apollo Estate.
"Throwing money at more police and at tougher sentencing, in my experience does, not work," Mr Stoner said.
"Only through proper co-ordination will we be able to get these young kids to aspire to a career, and get families committed to cleaning up their act. Early intervention programs are clearly the best way forward. It's like Pantene, it won't happen over night but the change is inevitable.
"We need to be looking at the changes in store for here and apply them to estates across NSW," Mr Stoner said.
Among some of the changes touted by both Ministers was the eventual break-up of estates like Apollo.
Ms Goward said while it was unlikely the government would ever close down Apollo Estate - "de-centralising" it was a matter high on the its agenda.
The minister said there was "no tangible proof" moving residents out of the area would have any bearing on the formation of "mini ghettos" across the city.
"Generally if you break an area like this up then a lot of these problems simply go away... that said we need to be vigilant so if we move people to other parts of the city and issues arise, they are dealt with quickly," she said.
"This is why we need a united, co-ordinated response from both community and government-run agencies."
But when the Daily Liberal asked Ms Goward how the break-up of estates had helped those living in the south-west neighbourhood of O'Donnell Street - or reports of her own department conducting walk-throughs with residents, the Minister seemed caught off guard.
"I've not been briefed by Troy [Grant, Dubbo State MP] about that situation," she said.
