Townsville crime: Mayor Jenny Hill’s scathing attack on State Government’s handling of issues

Townsville’s mayor has blasted the state government’s handling of the city’s crime issues, saying residents are ‘sick and tired’ of their percieved attitudes. See what she had to say.

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill has attacked the State Government’s response to property crime in the city. File picture.

Townsville’s mayor has launched an extraordinary attack on the state government’s efforts towards curbing the city’s crime ‘scourge’.

Mayor Jenny Hill used a ‘mayoral minute’ at Wednesday’s Townsville City Council meeting to attack the Palaszczuk’s government’s response to local property crime, and accused them of moving to “soften” criminal laws for offences including public drunkenness and urination.

Cr Hill also vowed to work directly with chief executive Prins Ralston to push for convicted property crime offenders to do more “meaningful work” in the city as part of any community service orders.

She said property crime had impacted “thousands” of Townsville residents and the issues “can no longer be ignored by the state government”.

More than 1100 people have been arrested by Townsville police for 3745 property crime offences in 2022 as part of Operation Uniform Cygnus.

“Townsville residents are sick and tired of the platitude that this is just a small number of offenders,” she told the gallery.

“They are sick and tired of the state government being perceived as being far more concerned with the rights of offenders, not the rights of the victims or the right of the community to feel safe.”

Cr Hill then quoted Albert Einstein before challenging state Labor MPs Aaron Harper, Scott Stewart and Les Walker to address the issue.

“Einstein once said the definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same thing and hoping for a different result,” she said.

“I challenge the three state government MPs in Townsville to look at the example of the member for Cairns (Michael Healy) who has actually had the gumption to call out his own government's failures on youth crime.”

Mr Harper hit back at Cr Hill on his Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon and asked for a “redaction”, saying he had been trying harder than anyone to tackle crime in Townsville.

Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper has asked for a retraction on Townsville mayor Jenny Hill’s comments about his efforts towards preventing crime. Picture: Shae Beplate.

“I strongly disagree with the mayor’s comments today (Wednesday) at council in regards to local MPs (perceived lack of concern) over youth crime,” he wrote.

“No one else has been trying harder to tackle crime in our city.

“I respectfully say to Mayor Jenny Hill that all levels of government have a role to play in community safety and I look forward to working with all in helping reduce crime in our community.”

Cr Hill also attacked the push to decriminalise public urination and intoxication following a state government committee review, which she opposed at hearings in October.

“The report following the inquiry (tabled on October 31) … confirmed my suspicion, that the whole committee exercise was a cover for a predetermined outcome,” she said.

“Townsville residents and visitors to our city should not have to endure public places where people are publicly urinating, excessively drunk and making the city less safe than it should be.”

Cr Hill tabled a document which she said “paves the way forward to see what more our council can do to address the scourge of crime in our city” for a “fruitful” discussion at its next meeting on December 14.

“While we don't have a policing or judicial role, council can be the advocate for our city to be as safe as possible,” she said.

“We have a responsibility to come with proposed solutions and not just throw rocks from the sidelines.”

Cr Hill has previously pushed to introduce a local version of the Olabud Doogethu Project youth crime prevention program used in Halls Gap, WA, to tackle the city’s crime issues.

The program involved the local council and indigenous elders collaborating to address youth crime in the community, and creating community-driven initiatives on early intervention, post-trauma support and education, training and career pathways.

Last year, despite crime reform being outside the council’s scope, Cr Hill drove the introduction of the council’s crime action plan which included initiatives such as a banned drinking register and expanding a GPS tracker program.

Originally published as Townsville crime: Mayor Jenny Hill’s scathing attack on State Government’s handling of issues