While agreeing the pandemic had absorbed a lot of government energy and health resources, Mr Lawrence said he wasn't certain why these two projects had been "so badly delayed". However, his main concern was timing of these delays with regard to the upcoming state election.

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"I'm very very suspicious that the timing around the March 2023 state election has played a role and it seems quite clear that the drug court is now slated to commence just before the state election," barrister and Labor candidate Mr Lawrence, said.

When the Daily Liberal asked Attorney-General Mark Speakman two months ago, why the drug court had been delayed, he was unable to give a direct response. A statement from his office implied that work was still in progress while allotted funding had already begun being spent.

According to Mr Lawrence, it seemed re-election motivation was also behind delaying the announcement of a location for the residential rehabilitation facility in Dubbo.

Mr Lawrence's claims follow those of Dubbo councillor Josh Black, who recently said he felt the delay over the rehab facility related to the upcoming election.

Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders fiercely refuted that and said he was hopeful there would be an update "in the next month or so".

"I can assure you there's a lot of work that's been going on and has been for quite sometime," Mr Saunders said last week.

"There were interruptions due to COVID and a whole range of things, but in the meantime it's about finding the best possible location for this facility."

When he was mayor, Mr Lawrence said he had been told the state government planned to set up the rehab facility near the juvenile justice centre on Westview Road, Dubbo. State-owned land in that area made it a "cheap and convenient option", however this was strongly opposed by community stakeholders.

Like the Weigelli Centre in Cowra, Mr Lawrence believed the Dubbo facility needed a better suited rural location to fulfil its purpose.

"I think the location should be decided upon with reference to what will be the best cultural and therapeutic outcome not just based on where the state government has accessible land," he said.

"It's important to get this project right, it will certainly require a significant capital investment to build the buildings and so forth so this needs to be done properly."

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The barrister believed community consultation processes were being used an excuse and that a previously decided upon location would be announced as the location for the rehab facility.

"There's a lot of strong community voices on this and it's quite interesting that most of the community consultation have been done ... by the Glenn rehab that came up here and hosted a couple of community meetings around it and look, I don't think the consultation process has been great. I think it's currently being used as an excuse for delayed action and I suspect we're going to see an announcement of a location that was decided on a long time ago," he said.

Mr Lawrence wanted to send a warning signal to health officials working on the rehab facility saying if Labor won government in March and he was elected to the legislative council, there would be strong sentiment around redesigning the project.

"It's something that I've fought for for the best part of ten years," he said.

"I'm not in favour of a cheapie solution, I'm not in favour of an inappropriate location, just because it's easy and cheap and if I'm in government, I'll be doing everything in my power to make sure the project that I fought so hard for alongside the community is implemented in a proper way."

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Responding to the member for Dubbo's "vulgar and abusive" comments towards Josh Black - Mr Saunders stated the councillor needed to "get his own head out of his own backside and worry about council issues" - Mr Lawrence said the MP should be properly engaging with the council's advocacy and activism.

"If councillors had kept their nose out of this one, then the rehab centre would not be happening and the drug court would not be happening. That's very widely understood in the community," he said.

"It is really the height of arrogance for Dugald Saunders to suggest that councillors have no role in this."

The same barrister who alongside Felicity Graham successfully reversed the court's ban on Sydney's 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, recalled the need for a residential rehab centre and a drug court had first been amplified by a group of community stakeholders including Bill Dickens and Sharon Tomas in 2011, followed by the Orana Law Society in 2014.

"These projects, at the end of the day, are the only real way to drive down the unacceptably high crime rates in our region," Mr Lawrence said.

In 2017, Dubbo Regional Council committed to advocating for the two projects and poured considerable amount of money into a #DubboNeedsARehab campaign in 2020 which led to the government's announcement of a facility in later that year.

"The reality is the state government was brought kicking and screaming to the table on this issue of drug court and rehab, myself and others in this community will keep them honest on it as the project is implemented," Mr Lawrence said.

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