A team leader from Port Macquarie Surf Lifesaving Club raced to snatch the object away from his young charge, but it was too late. 

In his curiosity the child had unsheathed the needle from its casing and pricked the index finger of his left hand. 

The confusion of the next few minutes was nightmarish for Mr Cochrane and his wife. 

“We didn’t know what to think,” Mr Cochrane said. 

The Cochranes rushed to Port Macquarie Base Hospital with their son and encountered more chilling news from emergency staff. 

“As soon as we got there we were told a 10-year-old boy had been brought in with a needle stick injury two weeks before. The only difference was the other kid was playing at Town Beach,” Mr Cochrane said.

The Cochranes have a unique understanding of the significance posed by needle stick injuries. 

“My wife and I have each worked in prisons for more than a decade, so we’ve seen the damage done by these drug-ridden arseholes every day,” Mr Cochrane said. “I think that’s why this has hit us so hard - we’ve seen the worst of the worst, and we don’t want it near our kids.”

The incident has prompted Mr Cochrane to call for safer beaches in Port Macquarie. He is demanding Port Macquarie-Hastings Council install syringe disposal units, or sharps bins, in the public toilets of Town and Flynns beaches. 

“The reality is we’re surrounded by the best beaches on earth,” Mr Cochrane said, “and people do use drugs on our beaches. Now, if there’s nowhere for these people to dispose of their needles, then the needles become killing machines.”

A spokesman for council said there are sharps disposal containers in all lifeguard towers and that lifeguards are trained to handle sharps, while surf lifesaving clubs in the area also have sharps disposal containers. 

Council’s recreation and buildings group manager, Liam Bulley, said council does not have the resources to rake local beaches on a regular basis, but would continue to rake the town’s most popular beaches at the busiest times of the year. He added there is not guarantee raking will pick up needles.

Mr Bulley described the incident as extremely unfortunate and said it highlighted the need for people to dispose of their needles correctly. He said because of a significant increase in the number of used syringes being found across the Hastings, particularly in public amenities and in parks and gardens, council workers have been using collection notification forms to help identify problem areas.

Mayor Peter Besseling advised yesterday he had commenced discussions with the Mid North Coast Local Health District with a view to running sharps education sessions for Nippers. He said the focus of any education program would be on the dangers of picking up things on the beach. 

Future developments will be watched keenly by Mr Cochrane, who said he will continue to fight to make the beaches of Port Macquarie safe again.

“We know we’re not going to change the world, but at least we can get parents talking about the dangers with their kids,” he said. “My son has three months where he’ll be doing everything normally, but it’ll still be in the back of his mind. That‘s a fair bit for a seven year old to deal with.”