A parliamentary inquiry into unsolved homicides and long-term missing persons cases on the North Coast is set to examine dozens of unresolved disappearances, with chair Jeremy Buckingham warning the region may have been targeted by serial offenders over decades.

The inquiry is expected to focus on cases stretching from Newcastle to the Queensland border, including Ballina concerns over submerged vehicles in the Richmond River, the disappearance of Marion Barter and the unsolved Lennox Head case of Bronwyn Winfield.

Mr Buckingham, who instigated the inquiry, said the scale of unresolved cases across regional NSW had become impossible to ignore.

“It’s highly likely that there was someone or persons operating across the North Coast, and they have abducted and murdered a number of people,” the Bellingen-based MP said.

He stressed the parliamentary inquiry was not attempting to identify offenders, but instead examine whether investigations were mishandled and how policing responses could improve in future.

“We are not an investigative body,” he said.

“What we are trying to find out is why there has been this failing and what we can do better into the future.”

The inquiry will examine cases from 1965 to 2010 and is expected to hear evidence from families, investigators, legal experts and community members.

Mr Buckingham said families repeatedly described feeling dismissed when loved ones disappeared.

“The attitude of the police at the time was abysmal,” he said.

“A lot of the time the disappearances were dismissed as runaways, or there was very little attention given to those cases, especially in the crucial early period.”

He said the first 48 to 72 hours after a person vanishes are often critical.

NSW Legalise Cannabis Party MLC Jeremy Buckingham

“The actions taken then can really be significant to either finding a perpetrator or finding a person,” he said.

The inquiry comes amid renewed public attention on cold cases through podcasts and documentaries, including ongoing investigations into the disappearance of Marion Barter, first reported missing in Byron Bay in 1997, and the case of Lennox Head teenager Bronwyn Winfield.

Mr Buckingham said the North Coast had experienced an alarming concentration of unresolved disappearances.

“It was through my work in parliament that I found out there were at least 67 unsolved homicides and long-term missing persons cases of young women from 1977 through to 2010,” he said.

“There was just story after story after story of young women who disappeared walking home, leaving the pub, catching the bus, hitchhiking, going about their lives.”

He said many of the victims were young women with established lives and future plans.

“These were people with plans, with their lives in front of them,” he said.

Concerns have also been raised in Ballina about submerged vehicles in the Richmond River after two missing women were recently found in cars pulled from the water.

The issue intensified following the recovery of a vehicle linked to missing Alstonville woman Susan Connors and another vehicle recovered during investigations into missing woman Cicily Spiers.

Local fishers using sonar equipment have claimed there may be at least six more wrecks on the riverbed, prompting calls for a coordinated recovery operation.

Ballina Shire Mayor Sharon Cadwallader has recently raised the issue directly with the Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, arguing the community deserves answers about whether any of the vehicles could be linked to unresolved missing persons cases.

Mr Buckingham agreed those reports should be urgently examined.

“If the community has credible information and the fishermen are saying, look, these cars are down there, well they should certainly be acting expeditiously,” he said.

He said one of the major aims of the inquiry was to ensure families finally had an opportunity to be heard publicly.

“It gives the families an opportunity to put on the record what they think happened,” he said.

The parliamentary inquiry has already published 65 submissions and the closing date for further submissions has now been extended to October 30.

People wishing to make a submission or follow the inquiry can visit the NSW Parliament inquiry page:
NSW Parliament inquiry into unsolved murders and long-term missing persons cases

Public hearings for the parliamentary inquiry are expected to be held in Grafton and Lismore between June 30 and July 2.