Forty years ago, a young ambitious journalist spent a week in Griffith to expose the town’s drug underbelly to a national audience.
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His name was Malcolm Turnbull, the journalist who became a lawyer and then Australia's prime minister.
On 9 April 1977, Mr Turnbull wrote an article about the MIA titled “pot capital of Australia” for the now defunct The Bulletin magazine.
Terry Jones, then editor of The Area News, said Mr Turnbull came to the local newspaper for help with research, and made an impression.
“The women were swooning as he walked by."
“Malcolm was a standout in Griffith, his whiter than white shirts, his shiny shoes in dusty summery Griffith.”
While the prime minister is now often criticised for being a “weak leader”, young Malcolm’s writing seemed brave and edgy.
Mr Turnbull wrote in the article, “they call it Calabresi corn down in the sleepy town of Griffith”.
“There can be no question there is a large marijuana growing conspiracy operating in Griffith within the southern Italian community”.
Mr Jones said The Area News provided the future prime minister of photos of recently raided pot crops in Coleambally – events which had thrust the MIA into the national spotlight.
The extent of the drug trade in the area was blown wide open a few months after Mr Turnbull’s visit, when another Liberal party member – political candidate Don Mackay – disappeared, thought to be murdered by those opposed to his attempts to crack down on illegal drug operations.
Mr Jones said Mr Turnbull utilised everything that is now part of “Griffith Diaries” – Mr Jones’ chronicle of this dark period in the MIA’s history, now looking to find a home in Sydney’s Justice and Police Museum, Murrumbidgee-amalgamated council museum or Charles Sturt University Riverina.
Mr Jones also said former Griffith councillor Ross Freeman was very impressed, noting “at the time everyone knew Malcolm would become prime minister”.
In his article, Mr Turnbull also said the MIA’s drug trade could be worth more than total production of the area, which was then $60 million.
In the same edition of the 1977 The Bulletin, Mr Turnbull co-authored an article called “The Australian Connection”, highlighting Australia’s role in the worldwide heroine trade.
Mr Turnbull worked as a journalist for a few years after graduating with an Arts/Law degree from the University of Sydney in the late 1970s. He then studied in Oxford and returned to Australia to work as a Barrister. After a number of false starts to launch his political career, he entered federal parliament in 2004 and become prime minister in 2015.
Our thanks to Terry Jones for preserving these documents and providing research and advice.