Youth crime leaving business owners at their wits end on Gold Coast

BUSINESS owners say youth crime has overtaken their shops as they arrive in the morning to find timber strewn everywhere, items urinated on and bottles thrown around the yard by unruly Gold Coast youth gangs.

JIMMY Gallagher is at his wits’ end.

The Robina Timber and Hardware Store owner is fed up with arriving at his store to find timber strewn everywhere, containers urinated on and bottles thrown around the yard.

He says the culprits are a gang of youths who have been terrorising his store and committing petty crimes.

“Police can’t do anything,” Mr Gallagher said.

“The police — what could they do? Their hands are tied.”

Kids loitering outside Southport Court. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mr Gallagher said as recently as yesterday he arrived at work to find timber strewn across the store yard.

He said he had called police but little had deterred the youths from returning again.

Stories like Mr Gallagher’s are not uncommon across the Gold Coast.

LNP Broadwater MP David Crisafulli is calling on the State Government to make wide-ranging changes to youth justice legislation to give police and the courts more powers to punish repeat offenders.

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Earlier this month two females, aged 17 and 19, were left without jackets and shoes when two 14-year-old boys threatened them at knifepoint in Southport and demanded clothes.

A woman yesterday posted on the Palm Beach and Elanora Queensland Community Facebook page warning people to be careful after her neighbour was attacked by five teenagers.

Kids outside of Southport Courthouse. Photo by Richard Gosling

“Tugun residents are living in fear as well,” Carolyn Holder replied to the warning.

Robina councillor Hermann Vorster has been fighting his own battle against youth crime, often posting the aftermath of their vandalism.

Cr Vorster said it was sparked by residents contacting him about crime in their area.

“I have seen a marked increase in juvenile delinquents over the past 24 months despite an increase in police patrols,” he said.

Cr Vorster said it was a concern raised with him by a number of business operators who all felt powerless.

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Homeless lair that is an old underground carpark in the basement of an abandoned building on corner of Markwell Ave and Gold Coast Highway. Picture Mike Batterham

The council has changed the layout of parks and public spaces as well as installed more CCTV in an effort to discourage young offenders from hanging around.

At Hope Island and Sanctuary Cove, Broadwater MP David Crisafulli said his residents were seeing a similar increase in crime.

He said young offenders laughed when police approached.

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“There was a time when someone approached a gang of youths doing the wrong thing and they ran away. This does not happen anymore,” he said.

“They are acting like they are themselves the law because the law is too lenient.”

Last year the State Government overturned a law that allowed repeat juvenile offenders to be publicly named.

Youth outside of Southport Courthouse. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mr Crisafulli wants harsher laws reinstated. Photo by Richard Gosling

Mr Crisafulli wants that law reinstated.

“I would like to see recidivist offenders dealt with in a more harsh manner,” he said.

“Everybody deserves a second chance but there reaches a point where the sixth, eighth and 12th chance is too much.”

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The Broadwater MP called for instances in which a juvenile breached their bail to be made an offence.

But Youth Minister Di Farmer slammed his calls.

“The people of Queensland also expect us to stop the cycle of reoffending, and that’s why we are investing so heavily in evidence-based programs that can actually break that cycle,” she said.

“The evidence shows that putting more young people in detention almost guarantees that those young people will offend again.”

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Ms Farmer said there was evidence that naming and shaming youth offenders and introducing breaches of bail did not have an effect on crimes being committed.

“We can’t keep doing what has been done for decades and expect to get different results,” she said.

“We need to make sure that young people are held accountable for their actions, but at the same time we need to keep investing in programs that are proven to reduce offending rates.”

A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said it was an operational matter up to the courts.