Townsville’s Bishop Timothy Harris believes Castle Law is not the answer to region’s youth crime crisis
The city’s top Catholic says going to bed with a gun under your pillow is not the answer to the North’s youth crime crisis. WHAT HE HAD TO SAY.
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The city’s top Catholic says he is just as fed up and angry as other Townsville residents in regards to youth crime, but says he fears tougher laws will turn Australia into America.
Hinchinbrook MP and staunch advocate of the policy Nick Dametto said Queenslanders are calling for it.
“That would give homeowners, and business owners, and people the rights here in Queensland to defend themselves if faced with an intruder,” he said.
But Townsville Bishop Timothy Harris said in his eight years at the helm the crisis only seemed to be getting worse, not better.
“It’s totally unacceptable that we have this situation in Townsville and we have had it for a long time,” he said.
“I understand the frustration, I am frustrated too and I am incensed when people’s homes are broken into, when people’s lives are threatened.”
Asked what could be done to fix the current youth crime crisis Bishop Harris said he did not believe the Katter’s Australian Party’s proposal for Castle Law was the right approach.
“The practice of Castle Law, that’s what worries me. It’s a pretty intense theory that people are pushing,” he said.
“Just how is this going to be rolled out? Does it allow people to go to bed at night and sleep with a gun under the pillow? It concerns me that we kind of puff out our chests and say we have an absolute right to defend ourselves, beyond reasonable force.
“We came up with a law, potentially Castle Law, as though that’s going to be the answer and for the life of me, it shouldn’t be allowed to be the answer.”
While he agreed people have the right to defend themselves, Bishop Harris said he had concern over the proposed idea backfiring.
“I am trying to point to crime prevention, crime is an illness isn’t it,” he said.
“It all stems from somewhere; addiction, mental illness, lack of opportunity, boredom.
“What can we do as a society that enables us to look at the root causes and can we invest our money in addressing those things?
“How is it that people after hours can tear around like lunatics in cars and rip up the entertainment centre lawn like they did the other day? How dare they?
“We are still treating the symptoms and not the illness.”
Bishop Harris said he had concerns that using tougher and tougher approaches to fight crime turn Australia into America.
“People literally have got guns and clubs and you get in your house at night, you lock your 25 locks and then you sit in your lounge chair waiting to be broken into,” he said.
“Then you are prepared to use potentially lethal force, I’m not sure that Castle Law is the answer”.
Stats from Queensland police show rates of crimes including unlawful entry have been increasing since February this year.
March was the biggest month for unlawful entry with 382 offences across the Townsville District.
Rates of unlawful use of a motor vehicle are also remaining steady with similar stats across April and May, while March was also the biggest month with 178 offences.
Townsville MP Adam Baillie said on Wednesday that the government was a “long way” from where they needed to be when it came to youth crime in Townsville.
“We know that, and our constituents know that, but we’ll continue to invest in our police, bolster the boots on the ground, give them the resources they need and change the laws and strengthen the laws as we need to get the results that everyone expects,” he said.
Regarding Castle Law, Mr Baillie said the party was trying to “push the limits and stay relevant”.
“What we are doing is focusing on preventing the crimes from occurring in the first place and not relying on residents having to defend themselves in their homes,” he said
“We want to put a stop to the crime before it occurs.”
On what the government is doing to curb the crime rates, Mr Baillie said the laws will continue to be strengthened and criminals will be dealt with under the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws.
He also said the government was continuing their commitment to rehabilitation and early intervention.
“In the past our Cleveland Youth Detention Centre had reoffending rates of 95 per cent, that’s not acceptable and it’s not sustainable,” he said.
“We’re investing in a youth crime school in Townsville and that’s not a school to learn more about crime, that’s a school to engage those youth who have disengaged from school already.”
“If the youths are out on the streets, that’s not going to school, that’s when they find themselves with spare time and they find themselves getting into trouble.”
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