Townsville crime: Council spends $2M on park boulders to stop dangerous hoons
Townsville council is forking out a whopping $2 million to install boulder barriers to stop hoons terrorising kids at parks around the city. Find out what has Qld’s LNP leader outraged about it.
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Townsville council is forking out a whopping $2 million to install boulder barriers to stop hoons terrorising kids at parks around the city.
Townsville City Council recently forked out about $200,000 to install a basalt boulder barrier around Heatley Park due to dangerous hooning going on at public parks and sporting fields.
It’s a part of a wider $2 million program that will see council roll out new boulder barriers across other parks including Charles Moroney Park, Illich Park, Warrina Park, Hi Vista Park and Peggy Banfield, with work expected to be done by next June,
Opposition leader David Crisafulli said the anti-hooning measures at Heatley Park were the “symptoms of a broken youth justice system.”
“They’re the symbols of what happens when a government starts losing control of providing safe communities for Queenslanders,” he said.
“The fact that council has had to go put hundreds of large rocks to stop being going on an oval when people are playing sport, where kids are on a playground, shows you what happens when youth crime is allowed to spiral out of control.”
He also expressed doubts on how effective a new Deterring Drivers program aims to prevent young people from stealing cars for ‘joy-riding’ in Townsville.
The $73,000 program, being funded by the state government, will involve an array of adrenaline-pumping activities like zip-lining, sports and abseiling to teach offenders they can get their kicks in a safe, legal way.
“How many more programs will we see until the state realises that until we have consequences for actions, the revolving door that is the youth justice system will continue,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“Until breach of bail is an offence in the Youth Justice Act, we will continue to see this merry-go-round and round and round.”
It comes after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was grilled about Townsville’s youth crime problems while she was in North Queensland last Wednesday.
“People should be able to live their lives without these incidents that are happening and causing them stress,” she said.
“That’s why we’ve got in place stronger communities in Townsville, we’ve got extra police there.
“From all accounts, the new Deputy Commissioner is working very well with communities.
“In fact, he was hand selected by the Commissioner to move from the Gold Coast to Townsville to have that seniority there.
“We need to get these young people back at home or alternatively into work and into employment, and that is exactly what we’ve been putting the funding into.”
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Originally published as Townsville crime: Council spends $2M on park boulders to stop dangerous hoons
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