Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation board member Ray Kennedy said yesterday he feared a bloody rampage that broke out at Lavington on Saturday morning would be repeated without strong intervention.

“Unfortunately there is a growing gang culture of black versus white, and God help us if it gets worse,” the Wiradjuri leader said.

“But if the community gets together we can pull our kids up — none of us wants to see our young fellows getting hurt or going to jail.

“This is a community problem, and the community needs to pull together and help.

“We need to be seen doing something ... I am one of the few who is speaking up.

“I am disappointed because there are four Aboriginal community groups, and I don’t see anyone else coming out.”

Mr Kennedy said addressing racial violence was a two-way street.

“We are all part of one community, and we all live here together,” he said.

“In this day and age we should be able to accept each other, whether we are white, Asian, Aboriginal or whatever.”

Albury police crime manager Detective Insp Brad Blanchard said police wanted to speak to Aboriginal elders to help curb the crime.

“The police are reacting to incidents all the time — we try to be proactive and prevent these things,” he said.

“But (Aboriginal leaders) need to come on board and need to show leadership within their own groups.

“It’s up to them within their culture to choose their leaders, and they are the ones who should be involved.

“(Otherwise) this type of behaviour is only going to escalate to the point where we have an unfortunate incident.”