Mareeba residents rally for efforts to combat youth crime plague

Up to 700 Mareeba residents came together on Sunday to support an action plan to help tackle the town’s youth crime plague. The gathering backed five key community recommendations.

MAREEBA residents turned out in force on Sunday for a community rally which produced its own action plan to tackle the town’s crime plague.

Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin was among those who spoke during the rally attended by up to 700 people at Davies Park.

Rally organiser, former Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Inspector Denis McKinley, said the Mareeba community had enough.

“They just want change, we just want out town back and we are saying enough is enough, we've had enough,” he said.

Mareeba resident Denis McKinley is fed up with crime. Picture: Bronwyn Farr

At the rally the protesters backed five motions they would like implemented as soon as possible by Mareeba Shire Council, the state government and Queensland Police.

The first motion was support for the introduction of a curfew for anyone under 16 not to be on the street between 10pm and 6am unless for exceptional reasons.

“We want to stop these people from coming around town and being on the street, trashing our community. Most of it is done in the night hours,” Mr McKinley.

The second motion was to have a curfew on bottle shops banning the sale of fortified casks before 4pm and not allowing bottle shops to open before 10am.

Another motion called for CCTV to be reinstalled in Mareeba.
Cr Toppin at the rally said the council was doing all they could to improve community safety.

“Taking actions that are within Council’s control including public space redesign and providing assistance with CCTV,” she said.

The remaining motions called for an alcohol-free zone in a large part of Mareeba and for funding of security guards to support the curfew.

Mr McKinley said he would like to see these community recommendations implemented quickly.

“Old people are getting trashed, they don’t feel safe in houses, businesses are being broken into,” he said.

Cr Toppin said the Mareeba community needed to work together to achieve a change.

“This is a complex issue and there are no simple solutions, but it is something that needs all of us to work together to address,” she said.

Originally published as Mareeba residents rally for efforts to combat youth crime plague