‘Want our town back’: Border communities under siege as crime crisis rages
A mother living in a Queensland town overrun by crime has revealed her 10-year-old son is so terrified he sleeps with a shard of glass under his pillow to protect his family.
QLD News
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Homes burnt to the ground, stolen car wrecks left on street corners and residents gripped by fear – this is the reality for a town that has been forgotten in the war on crime that rages along Queensland’s border with NSW.
On one side is Goondiwindi – a thriving, bustling country community – and on the other is Boggabilla – a ghost town of burnt out stolen cars, perished homes, and once flourishing shops either burnt down or boarded up.
They sit just 10km apart, split only by the McIntyre River, but they’re on different planets as both regions grapple to deal with a war on crime with overlapping agencies and jurisdictional chaos.
Car theft and break-in rates in Goondiwindi have soared to the worst in Queensland in June, with juveniles from both Queensland and NSW using the border as an escape route to avoid prosecution.
In August, 23 car theft and break-in offences have already been recorded in Goondiwindi, and reinforcements were called in from other regions to help local police get on top of the wave.
Marlana Bishop, 35, is one of many residents in Goondiwindi who feel their town is under siege, with even her young son so scared of being broken into he hid a shard of glass under his pillow.
“My son felt the need to hide implements in his room, his logic being that he needed to keep himself and the family safe,” Mrs Bishop told The Sunday Mail, tearing up.
“Having a 10-year-old feel he needs to protect his little sister and grown up parents, it’s heartbreaking.”
Mrs Bishop has called Goondiwindi home for 13 years, but says it’s not the town she once knew, with thieves getting around with weapons, machetes, and bats on the regular.
“Once upon a time, we used to leave the front door unlocked while we were at home. Now we have to tell our children if they come in the door, make sure they lock it.
“We were once known for our beautiful river, the levee bank, the gorgeous walk on the levee bank, and our beautiful main street.
“Now it’s, are we going to be safe here?
“We want our town back. We want to feel safe in our town. We don’t want to have to lock up like Fort Knox.”
Over the border, residents of Boggabilla are fed up, with one local businessman, Ned, forced to erect a massive $100,000 fence around his property after being ambushed three times in one week.
Ned and his young family imagined a slow-paced life in the bush when purchasing the business last year, but within days of moving their dreams were shattered.
Thieves attacked him, his clients, stole their cars, and came back for more.
“My wife and I, we were looking for a motel. I asked the motels in Goondiwindi, can you give us a room? We don’t feel safe here,” Ned said.
“Money comes and goes … but the psychological impact it has, not just on me but my clients.”
But Boggabilla wasn’t always this way. It was once a vibrant town, with famous pub Wobbly Boot, a fishing hub, shops, and was a place locals from Goondiwindi went for a night out.
It’s now a shadow of it’s former self.
More than 50 homes have been burnt down in the town, charred stolen cars are left discarded on street corners, the once iconic Wobbly Boot is boarded up, the local corner store is closed, and there’s a police station that’s notoriously hard to fill.
The only shop operating is the service station, which has security fog measures installed if anyone tries to rob them.
Residents say juveniles of the largely Indigenous community have even turned on their elders.
Young children sit in the gutter late at night playing in the dirt instead of being tucked up in bed, and others pass a football in the deserted streets – these are just the ones you can see.
Residents like local foster carer Renee, who has cared for more than 30 kids in the region, just want their town back.
“There’s a lot of abuse from day dot,” Renee said.
“There’s a lot of alcohol, drugs, domestic violence, even sexual abuse on children.”
The issues spill out over the border, compounded by jurisdictional chaos.
On one side, police can pursue a stolen car, on the other it’s not allowed.
Police in Queensland can arrest a person in NSW, but they can’t be brought back without a long extradition process.
Goondiwindi officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Richard McIntosh said their powers were limited in New South Wales, but the two police services worked together.
“Generally, our offenders are from New South Wales and they come in, offend in Queensland, but they also offend in New South Wales,” Sergeant McIntosh said.
“So we have to work closely with New South Wales police … and make sure we co-ordinate our resources to target what we need to and try to get the outcomes we require.
“It’s nothing for people to come from miles away, come to town, offend here, and then continue to other places and offend … but we do have local offenders as well.”
Other agencies on either side are tripping over each other, overlapping, or leaving gaps all together.
It’s why Goondiwindi mayor Lawrence Springborg has been campaigning for a cross-border commissioner for more than a decade. And this month the government finally answered his calls.
Premier Steven Miles appointed former Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers as the man to help streamline services between the states, who’s already talking about the idea of a border bubble.
Mr Springborg said it’s a step in the right direction, but Mr Leavers couldn’t fix the issues single-handedly.
“People who don’t live in border towns don’t know what it’s like. There’s planet Queensland, and planet New South Wales.
“Mr Leavers is not the premier, he’s not the minister, he will recommend law changes, but the incumbent government of the day has to listen and has to act.
“Otherwise you set the man up to fail. He’s the right man for the job, but a tradesman without a fully kitted out tool kit can’t do their job properly. He’s not superman.”
Originally published as ‘Want our town back’: Border communities under siege as crime crisis rages
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