A barrage of unflattering news reports, from shows like A Current Affair, has now associated Griffith in many people’s minds with drugs and crime.

But after years of trying to restore the city’s reputation after Donald Mackay’s disappearance in the late 1970s, many in Griffith aren’t willing to let the latest drug arrests smear the town.

Peta Dummett works at Neighbourhood House and spends most of her time working with groups aiming to make the community a better place.

The time she has spent with countless locals has convinced her that the good aspects of Griffith’s community far outweigh the bad.

“It’s sad that a small group of people overshadowed the huge developments in the community,” she said.

“We are fundamentally good people.”

Her Neighbourhood House co-worker Gloria Tappi said the recent arrests of Griffith residents Pasquale Barbaro, Dominic Barbaro, Pasquale Sergi, Saverio Zirilli and Giovanni Polimeni had done damage to the local Italian community.

“We can’t stress enough that the majority of people here are good people who have contributed a lot to the community,” she said.

“I hope that people will recognise that Griffith is predominantly made up of honest, hardworking people.”

But with so many great community events like La Festa and the salami festival, Mrs Tappi said the drug busts have undermined a lot of people’s hard work in promoting Griffith.

“Hopefully the world will realise there’s a lot of great things here,” she said.

Community volunteer Peter Leonard said Griffith people don’t feel embarrassed by the actions of a few of its residents.

“Every community contains criminals or potential wrongdoers,” he said.

“The only immigrant community I know of who were mostly crooks was the First Fleeters.”

Rubbing salt into the wound is a recent study by BankWest, listing Griffith as one of the worst places in Australia to live.