The Minister for the North Coast and Member for Ballina, Don Page, has welcomed the news that the North Coast is to receive a substantial boost to police numbers.

Mr Page, along with his North Coast colleagues, Thomas George (Lismore), Geoff Provest (Tweed), Andrew Fraser (Coffs Harbour) and the former member for Clarence, Steve Cansdell, worked diligently together over a long period of time to achieve this outcome.

Most recently, Mr Page highlighted the dire shortage of police resources on the North Coast in his speech to Parliament last month.

“We have been anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Parsons Review and it has proven what we have been saying – that the North Coast area commands are severely under resourced," Mr Page said.

"I especially commend the Minister for Police, Michael Gallacher, for immediately adopting the recommendation of the report that operational strength of local area commands be raised from a minimum of 80 per cent to a minimum of 90 per cent.

"As a result of this change, the Richmond LAC will receive an additional 13 officers and Tweed Byron LAC will receive 20 additional officers.

"We made a submission in 2009 to Assistant Commissioner Lee Shearer, outlining the police situation on the North Coast. The former Labor Government refused to listen to us.

“When the Parsons Review started, I made another submission on behalf of my North Coast State Parliamentary colleagues highlighting the various reasons why the North Coast should have more police.

"After 16 long years, we now have a Government and a Police Minister who is listening to the cold hard facts and acting on them.

"The North Coast has a higher than normal rate of officers who are not available for operational duty,” Mr Page said.

"The Northern Rivers had more than 2 million overnight visitors in 2010, which adds a substantial additional burden to policing resources.

"The North Coast has a rapid population growth, a high incidence of mental illness and drug-related crime, and high traffic volumes, including heavy vehicles travelling on the Pacific Highway.

"I have always known the case for increasing police numbers on the North Coast was very strong.

“The findings of the Parsons Review and the subsequent adoption of many of the recommendations by the Police Minister has borne that out.

"I thank the Police Minister for acting so decisively and quickly on the findings of the review. It will make an enormous difference to the safety of people on the North Coast and to our existing police officers, who have been battling for many years under the strain of insufficient police numbers."