POLITICIAN Leslie Williams has called for illegal graffiti to be immediately removed.
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The Port Macquarie MP said she was driven to demand better responses following the New Year's Eve tagging of the Hastings Valley Netball Association's clubhouse.
"Removing graffiti quickly is a tried and true way to help stop it occurring simply because if removed within 24 hours the perpetrators get frustrated because their work disappears," Mrs Williams said.
The Nationals MP pointed to the work of Forster's Ted Bickford, who has spent two decades voluntarily rapidly removing illegal graffiti.
His program costs the Great Lakes Council $5000 a year, considerably less than the $40,000 Port Macquarie-Hastings-Council spends annually on graffiti removal.
He has a telephone hot line to his house and makes his removal truck on the road highly visible.
He gets teenagers from Juvenile Justice and other programs to clean up the mess from 5am each day.
"All we're doing is stopping the kids from wanting to do it," he said.
"It's convinces the young people to have pride in themselves, their town and what they've got."
Mr Bickford said there are seven skate parks in his area "and we wouldn't have touched one (to clean) in five years".
The most important part of his role happens before a tag is sprayed.
"You've got to work on education. I work with kids from year 7 to 11 and I supply all their gear and equipment, get them biodegrable products.
"Then the kids go out and check the school before class. It works so well that not one of our schools has got a pencil mark on them."
The septuagenarian even goes to court with some of his charges when required.
"I've got one young bloke who was ordered to do 100 hours work. He did 500 hours all up and now he's in the third year of his apprenticeship."
Mr Bickford said the difference with his program is clear to the community.
"The difference is we are winning. Every day."
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council signed off on a volunteer graffiti buster scheme in November.
A council spokesman said initiative "is progressing well" and a team of volunteers has been recruited.
The Kempsey Graffiti Busters recently spent three days training "and cleaning up some local graffiti sites".
"The Kempsey and Port Macquarie teams will be doing some more training following the Christmas and New Year period," the spokesman said.
