’Just stupidity’: Residents respond to pollies’ solutions on youth crime

Frustrated locals have responded to Far North politicians’ solutions to the youth crime crisis, labelling some ideas ‘great’ and coming up with solutions of their own. Tell us what you think.

A Cairns woman victim to the spiralling crime crisis has backed suggestions that parents should be held responsible for their children’s crimes.

Cairns resident Rainee Nicholls, 63, was asleep at her White Rock home earlier this year when it was broken into, with liquor stolen and marks left on her car indicating attempts to break inside.

“Until the parents are held accountable, I don’t think they’ve got a hope of doing anything,” Ms Nicholls said.

“If you know where your child is, they’re not out offending. If your child’s home in bed, they’re not out doing anything wrong.”

She’s joined dozens of frustrated locals who have responded to the solutions and ideas put forward by Far North MPs to tackle the youth crime problem.

Published in the Cairns Post on Tuesday, MPs were asked what they thought the solution to the youth crime problem plaguing Cairns was and what they were doing to help make people feel safe in the city.

The MPs diverse ideas for tackling the crisis ranged from relocation and detention, to early intervention and education.

Many of the public are calling for a stronger law and order response, pointing to numerous break-ins, assaults, vandalism, and rampant car thefts.

White Rock resident Rainee Nicholls thinks parents should be held responsible for their children’s crimes. Picture: Emily Barker

Ms Nicholls thought jail time for parents could be solution for the worst offenders.

Otherwise, she suggested forcing them to repay money to the victims of the child’s actions.

“I don’t know how people that have got nothing, how they pay things back. And most of these people don’t have anything. So that’s a really hard one,” she said.

On social media, others agreed the parents should be a bigger part of the equation.

“The legal guardian should receive the penalty and an additional fine,” wrote one user, Helen, in a comment.

“The offender should be required to do community service, perhaps cleaning the graffiti off public places and be supervised by their guardian.”

Ms Nicholls was joined by several Cairns Post readers in agreeing with Kennedy MP Bob Katter that relocation of youth offenders to a remote property would help break the cycle of crime.

Member for Kennedy and leader of the Katter Australia Party Bob Katter. Picture: Brian Cassey

“Campbell Newman had the answer but it was shut down by Labor, it’s time to reintroduce the remote camps to re-educate these young people, and secondly make them and their custodians pay for the losses incurred by the victims caused by their criminal behaviour,”

Facebook user Jazza commented on Tuesday’s article.

In an online poll conducted by the Cairns Post, six per cent of respondents liked Katter’s relocation idea.

More than a fifth called for harsher measures, with 23% of respondents wanting jail time for repeat offenders.

The majority believed there was not a single answer to the youth crime problem, and a combination of approaches would be needed to see anything change.

As another solution not touched on by the politicians, Ms Nicholls suggested Cairns police should have more funding and offer another way for crimes to be reported.

“Trying to get through on police link is ridiculous … There should be an in-between for Policelink and triple-000 for something that’s going on now,” she said.

“Policelink is very, very hard for older people. It’s very user unfriendly.”

Originally published as ’Just stupidity’: Residents respond to pollies’ solutions on youth crime