Calls for more police beats as anti-social behaviour continues in Maryborough CBD

A bustling city on the Fraser Coast is begging for help to curb gross behaviour in its CBD, where people are using shop fronts as toilets, and even squatting in the street in broad daylight.

Six months after a high visibility police operation was launched to target anti-social behaviour in Maryborough CBD, concerns are again being shared as public nuisances and public defecating are witnessed time and again.

LNP Maryborough MP John Barounis joined with concerned business owners in Adelaide St on Thursday as hundreds of people descended on the city centre for market day.

There they heard of what is being experienced and seen, including a few people defecating in the street in the middle of the day.

The issue came to a head in November 2024, when Daniel Beattie, who lives in a Maryborough CBD apartment, spoke out about his ongoing concerns regarding anti-social behaviour in the Heritage City.

He said he witnessed everything from public nudity to wilful damage and disturbances.

In response, police launched Operation Whiskey Legion, a high-visibility crackdown where a group of officers were assigned solely to patrol problem hotspots including the CBD, Queens Park and the city’s two major shopping centres.

Those patrols have since dropped away, and business manager Eric Gorry said this week they needed to come back.

Maryborough LNP MP John Barounis meets with business owners in the CBD.

He said the behaviour of a few was deterring people from feeling safe visiting businesses and was leaving a bad taste in the mouths of tourists.

Mr Gorry said since Covid-19, he had noticed behaviour in the CBD declining every year, to the point that it was now directly impacting his business.

He is the manager of Big & Bold Fashions, Espresso Bar & Collectables, which has been open for nine years.

Like many CBD businesses, there is a nook in front of his front door which is now regularly used as a toilet, with faeces and urine greeting shop owners in the morning.

Mr Gorry said he’d like to see more security and police walking the beat, cracking down on such anti-social behaviour.

“The other day I actually witnessed one, probably 5-10 feet away from me, in the actual middle of the day, dropped his pants and did a number two in the street and I could not believe it.”

He said employees were escorting grey nomads back to their cars “because they were absolutely terrified”.

“They’re not from here and they experience that and it’s pretty scary for them.

“And they don't come back, we lose those customers.”

Mr Gorry said being in business was hard, but having these issues on top was “nearly impossible”.

He said his worst fears concerned the safety of he and his wife.

Three men had been involved in a fight in the shop, and he was worried about his wife getting hurt.

“You just can't stop them, they just go radical they are so off their faces,” Mr Gorry said.

Mr Gorry said every day there was something going on in the CBD.

Just last week a shocking video showed the arrest of a man in Adelaide St who had breached his bail and was taken into custody.

Mr Barounis said he would support anything that would fix the ongoing issues in the CBD, whether that was a regular police beat or the addition of more police to the CBD.

“The issue is real and that is what we need to do,” he said.

He said the state government was actively working on the issue so that business owners and customers could feel safe.

Mr Barounis said he understood it was a multi-agency issue, with some of the issues needing to be addressed falling into the categories of mental health and homelessness.

“We’re taking everything on board,” he said.

He said he understood the concerns that the issues in the CBD were leaving tourists with a negative impression of the region.

“We have to make sure the city is safe and people will be able to come back again and enjoy themselves,” Mr Barounis said.

He said the issue of homelessness was an ongoing one and efforts were being made to get more social housing for Maryborough to accommodate people’s needs.