The lack of vital police resources in the Ballina Electorate and the North Coast generally, has been raised in the NSW Parliament by Don Page MP.

Mr Page spoke in Parliament to highlight the need for extra police for the Richmond and Tweed/Byron Local Area Commands. 

"We are awaiting the results of the police audit conducted by former Assistant Commissioner, Peter Parson," Mr Page said.

"I trust the audit will bring to light the dire situation of police resources on the North Coast and that our new Liberal and Nationals Government will take strong corrective action to rectify the lack of police," he said.

The North Coast has one officer for every 700 people, compared to the statewide ratio of one officer for around 500 people.

"These figures are even worse when you consider the large number of visitors that we receive each year – 2 million overnight visitors and 3.4million day trip visitors to the Northern Rivers last year alone.  Visitor numbers put further demands on the police service," Mr Page said.

"There are a number of important reasons why we need more police in this area.  I wanted to bring all of those factors to the attention of the Parliament to ensure a complete understanding of the importance of increasing our police resources."

The issues Mr Page highlighted were the high number of visitors, the rapid population growth, the high incidence of mental illness and drug related crime and the increased traffic, including heavy vehicles travelling on the Pacific Highway.

"For all of these reasons I believe we have a very strong case for a significant increase in police resources.

"I trust that our new Government will take strong corrective action to rectify the lack of police."