Hear our voice: Majority want action on youth crime from pollies

Cairns residents are fed up with youth crime and want the state’s politicians to know about it, according to a random cross section of the public spoken to by the Cairns Post.

Cairns residents are fed up with youth crime and want the state’s politicians to know about it, according to a random cross section of the public spoken to by the Cairns Post on Wednesday.

With the final sitting day of Regional Parliament taking place in Cairns this morning, the message from locals in the streets of the CBD, at shopping centres, and in the suburbs was clear.

Do something about youth crime that makes a difference in our lives.

The overwhelming majority of people the Cairns Post spoke to said the biggest issue politicians should be focused on solving right now was crime.

Residents in Cairns have named their number one issue e.

“Youth crime is 100 per cent the biggest issue,” said Katelyn Cody of Gordonvale.

“I have been one of the lucky ones who hasn’t had anything happen to me but we all know someone who has.”

Tracey Norvell from Mt Peter was concerned with the community reactions to crime.

“We’re going to end up with a vigilante thing like Rockhampton going on because people are getting pushed to the limits,” she said.

A good number of respondents mentioned other issues, including welfare and health care.

“Cairns is getting bigger and we need to supply better health care,” said Karly Sorensen of Redlynch.

Top of mind for people were also the issues of health, drugs, the rental crisis and resultant homelessness, alcohol and public housing.

Health was high on the list for a recent refugee to Australia.

“I have come recently from the Congo,” said Jack Lubunga of Cairns North.

“The government needs to help refugees, we need help to find homes. Also, there needs to be more money for healthcare and welfare payments.”

On the brighter side, on others’ wishlists for the Queensland Government were better public transport, more bicycle pathways to ease traffic congestion, and possibly with those in mind, one person suggested tourism businesses could be enhanced with more government assistance.

Another the Cairns Post spoke to was upset by the federal budget’s planned cuts to the pharmaceutical industry, but the government in Brisbane will probably have little sway over Canberra on that one.

While it’s here, politicians could do worse than putting their ears to the footpath in Cairns.

Queensland Parliament is in town. What is the biggest issue politicians should be focused on solving right now?

Ashleigh Hill, 36, Redlynch: I think homelessness is probably the biggest issue up here it really is getting a bit out of control and it has so many flow on effects in the community.

Katelyn Cody, 40, Gordonvale: Youth crime is 100 per cent the biggest issue. I have been one of the lucky ones who hasn't had anything happen to me but we all know someone who has.

Shreya Birthare, 28, Cairns North: Youth crime for me is the biggest issue as I've been subject to it myself. It's caused me to be really wary on the street.

Karly Sorensen, 34, Redlynch: Youth crime's pretty bad. We're getting better infrastructure around the hospital at the moment, so that's good. Cairns is getting bigger and we need to supply better health care. There's definitely a parking issue around the hospital. Picture: Sandhya Ram

John Williams, 81, Redlynch: Climate change. It's a complicated one here but just attention by itself isn't going to solve things. It's as complicated as trying to sort out the youth crime thing. They're both as complicated as each other. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Luana McFall, 44, Kewarra Beach: My thing is the 60-day dispensing with the pharmaceutical industry. I am in the pharmaceutical industry and we heard the budget last night. It was very disappointing. We think it's going to affect the viability of a lot of the local pharmacies – we are from Kewarra Beach and I don't think that it is going to survive with this massive cut in funding. For the Labor government to pull $3.5b out of the pharmaceutical industry and then give it to the doctors I think is a little bit of a stretch. Especially during Covid when GPs refused to see patients and we picked up a lot of the load. It made a lot of us angry. If you're cutting services, hours, your staffing – all of those – how are you supposed to look after your patients when they cut your funding by 30% of your net profit. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Yu-Kang, 34, Cairns North: I think there is a traffic problem from the Northern Beaches to the city which really needs to be addressed. Youth crime is a huge issue as well. Politicians need to be more transparent in their communication with public. We need an open forum, to invite residents to have an open discussions but this is a worldwide issue. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Barbora Strafeldova, 40, Trinity Beach: Youth crime. I read about break-ins and stolen cars. I think the government must work with the parents but the parents don't care about the kids. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Vicki Ketu, 51, Yorkey's Knob: I see homelessness, the rental crisis, if they think they have it under control they don’t. They need to come to ground level. The homelessness crisis is big and affecting people’s health as well. Indigenous people are left behind and one of the last people to be helped.

Casey Wright, 30, from White Rock: Youth crime is the main concerning issue. We had an attempted break-in and they stole the garage remote key.

Jack Lubunga, 45, Cairns North: I have come recently from the Congo. The government needs to help refugees, we need help to find homes. Also, there needs to be more money for healthcare and welfare payments. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Satrick Chevathen, 21, Manoora: I think the government should provide more support to single mums. All of my mates who are in jail have come from single-parent homes. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Alex Pinchbeck: I think health care and the problems we’ve got with youth crime really do need addressing. And I think that has an impact on tourism, which is very important, as well.

Tracey Norvell, 59, Mt Peter: Why do our questions keep falling on deaf ears? Just do something about it (youth crime). Everyone's sick to death of it. And we're going to end up with a vigilante thing like Rockhampton going on because people are getting pushed to the limits when you approach getting turned upside down and urinating everywhere and defecating everywhere. It's a vile violation. Yeah, so we gotta do something. We're becoming so big now in Cairns. It shouldn't have to be this way. Picture: Sandhya Ram

John Patrick, 84, and Helen Patrick, 81, both from Bentley Park. John: Crime needs to be addressed. There are no boundaries for the kids, and you can't have rules without enforcing them. Without boundaries, you'll only make fools out of children. Helen: Housing really needs to be addressed. The government needs to build more public housing, and should fix up some of the abandoned buildings to get people into them. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Roger Price, 75, Cairns: Youth crime is the biggest issue. I've been beaten up by a group of kids who stole all my money. Kids aren't being looked after properly. Parents are addicted to cheap wine, and there's an ice epidemic in all the communities now. It's really bad. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Ian Murgha, 56, Cairns: The amount of crime and the young kids having no distractions here. There's nothing for them. that's why they're doing what they're doing. There was a program called Choice that turned their lives around a few years ago. With the right people involved we could turn some of these kids around.

Lee Lightner, 34, Redlynch: Please invest more money in the mountain bike trails around Cairns. That might be a selfish one for me, but investing in the mountain bike trails would be good. We've got funding for the trail at Wangetti. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Larissa, 24, Cairns CBD: Do our lives not matter? Does our stuff not matter? Like I saw yesterday, if someone gets a car stolen in Brisbane, the police will chase them. Then you hear the police yesterday caught a stolen car at Woree Tavern and just let it go. They didn't do nothing about it. Literally they followed them down the road and then went to another job. Those kids got away and how does that person that owns the car feel? That their property is not valuable? That their hard work doesn't pay off? Picture: Sandhya Ram

Richard Knox, 35, White Rock: The youth crime needs to be addressed. We were impacted by it; we were broken into and have had many other break-in attempts. It's a common story.

Matt Butterworth, 36, Manunda: Better funding and making sure there's more funding for the right reasons like housing and stuff. They recently just bought a block of units that to help lower vacancies so maybe one more. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Mehaley Nish, 26, Smithfield: Youth crime is the obvious issue. But public transport too, it would be great to have a bike pathway into town. It would be really well used. I don't feel safe on the buses.

Khel Bath, 22, from Gordonvale, said the most pressing issue which needed to be discussed was theft and youth crime: They say we need more police but it's not police's job at the end of the day, they are not parents. Years ago when I grew up here, mum would never the lock house. Now its just sh*t. Picture: Sandhya Ram

Marie Brand, 48, Manunda: Child safety needs the government's attention. I needs to be better run. Children need more protection up here. But the communities in Cape York need more support, too. A lot of people from there have had their kids taken but they don't know where their children are now. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Jean-Francois Abrue, 73, Cairns: There are many stolen bikes near my unit, people jumping over the fence, maybe it's not important for the police. But crime is the issue.

Sara Steffensen, 54, Westcourt: Youth crime certainly is on top of everyone's minds but also our health system at the moment for me especially after Covid seemed to highlight differences here compared to other states.

Prue Fitzpatrick: Crime is just overriding everything, our neighbour got broken in to and we lock up like Fort Knox. There’s no punishment. And I’d like to know why a lot of these kids aren’t in school.

Sandy Long: I want to see tourism businesses enhanced and supported, there is so much on offer up here, you can go in any direction and it’s fantastic. There should be more emphasis on tourism.

Moona Perrotin, Trinity Beach, 59: The government has to do something about the car stealing. My car was stolen when I lived in Parramatta Park. That's the top issue here; insurance is going through the roof. The parents need to be held accountable if their kids are doing it. I'm afraid people will start taking matters into their own hands. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

Shannon Hamilton, White Rock, 30: It has to be housing affordability, the rent keeps going up and it's getting hard to provide the basics like school fees for my kids.

Chris Gampe, Woree, 53: Housing. Availability is the biggest issue, you go to look at a place and it's a fight, people offering more rent. You go to an inspection and there are 30 cars there.

Nick Wymarra, Manunda, 55: Family support and more services for families. Cairns is a tourist town and it's all about visitors and not families, it's very different in Townsville.

Kirri Hammett, Smithfield, 33: Cost of living and car theft. We had our cars stolen and are out of pocket $20,000 even after insurance payouts. I don't like even letting my kids walk down the street.

Dave Eves, Mission Beach, 63: Better communication between state and federal government and the redefining of state government electoral boundaries.

Angela Vallis, Innisfail, 52: We are trying to get my daughter medically assessed because she has a rare condition called Russell Silver Syndrome but it has been so difficult.

Tien Dang, Bungalow, 29: Housing affordability and the rental crisis. Everyone I speak to about this issue is affected and there is nothing they can do about it.

Andrew Dobbie, Magnetic Island, 48: Cost of living and things are going up here. It's unbelievable, I would say it's dearer than New Zealand, that's how bad it is. We're paying like $2.20 for petrol.

Originally published as Hear our voice: Majority want action on youth crime from pollies