Action call on Huon litterbugs and hoons

MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 ANTI-SOCIAL and “cowardly” behaviour is damaging the Huon Valley, say locals who are fed up by the sight of burnt tyre rubber and roadsides strewn with booze bottles and used syringes.

Catherine and Mark Temby have l i ved in t he r egion for decades, but say they are starting to feel unsafe as hoons drive at breakneck speeds through country roads, littering as they go.

Only eight police officers are assigned to the Huon, the council confirmed, despite the area covering much of Tasmania’s south and home to more than 16,000 residents.

“We’ve been living here for 30 years and we love it,” Mrs Temby said.

“But for the past few years, there seems to be a deterioration. Some people just have this idea that they don’t care about where they live.”

The Tembys said a lack of policing was a huge concern for locals, adding the Huonville police station was often unstaffed.

“If we don’t have sufficient policing, we can’t feel safe in our own homes,” Mrs Temby said.

Each week, the Tembys walk 10km between their home at Lucaston to Huonville, picking up a large bag of rubbish on the way.

They said the litter and burnout hotspots included Cygnet Coast, Judbury, Glen Huon, Lollara and Lucaston Link roads, as well as sections of the Huon Highway.

The couple called on a “more clever” use of resources, such as random police breathtesting, so the hoons didn’t know when authorities were coming.

Huon Valley Mayor Bec Enders agreed policing levels urgently needed to increase.

She said she had been speaking with police for some time, notifying them the community was fed up by hoons.

“The Huon Valley does not have a police station that’s manned 24/7. What this means is that in the early hours of the morning we no longer have any police,” she said, adding eight officers was not enough.

“People have had a gutful. You run out of tolerance. It’s such a beautiful environment, the Huon Valley is such a beautiful place, and when you see people not caring like that, it breaks your heart,” she said.

“In 2019, hooning and speeding and ignoring all the traffic road rules and throwing waste out your window is not normal behaviour.”

She said the Huon Valley community needed to “step up” and notify police when they saw hoons flouting the law.

“We’ve got a problem here that people aren’t reporting. If people don’t report, the police can’t do anything about it.”

Police and Emergency Management Minister Mark Shelton said the Government was “tough on crime” to ensure resident safety.

He said the Government was recruiting an extra 125 police officers across Tasmania, but did not say how many would be stationed in the Huon.

Mr Shelton said Tasmania Police already conducted random breath testing.