Townsville soccer club copper theft ‘appalling’ says Attorney-General
The Attorney-General has blasted a thief who stole copper from a Townsville soccer club, as the government investigates how to stop the illegal scrap metal trade.
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The Attorney-General says the theft of copper from a Townsville soccer club is appalling and comes in the middle of a state government push to disrupt the sale of stolen metals.
Between Wednesday night and Friday morning last week, someone cut the fence of MA Olympic’s Annandale ground, and stole underground pipes connected to the lights.
The women’s team has a Queensland champions league grand final against Brisbane City FC on October 7, and with the lights disabled on the second pitch, they will have to train on and put more wear into the main playing surface.
The women’s coach is an electrician and reckons for $10,000 to $20,000 worth of damage caused, the thief would have made off with $1000 of copper by the time the pipes were stripped.
Coach Michael Brooks told the Bulletin earlier this week “it’s a bit of a pain in the arse”, on the eve of “essentially the biggest game that’s been played here”.
In August the state government announced a parliamentary inquiry into the issue of copper and other scrap metal thefts.
“I am appalled to hear reports of copper theft at a Townsville sporting club,” Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said.
“As I said last month, stripping and stealing copper and other metals from our energy networks, businesses, schools, or any other organisation is a crime and won’t be tolerated.”
The inquiry aims to identify effective measures for detecting and disrupting the sale of stolen copper and other metals in Queensland.
“Not only does this issue impact our economy and communities, but it has the potential to pose a severe risk to public safety,” she said.
“That is why the Palaszczuk Government established a parliamentary inquiry to examine the issue of copper and other scrap metal thefts.”
The Attorney-General expects to receive the inquiry report later this year.
Police say no one has been charged for the theft.
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