HOONS MUST BE HALTED

LAW and order is a tried-and-trusted old standby for any state election campaign.

With a poll in the wind, there should be little surprise the LNP will launch a policy today that goes hard against young hoons. But voters should not be too cynical. People in the northern suburbs have been demanding action to stop hooning for a long time, saying they are fed up with calls for help falling on deaf ears because police don’t have enough officers. Some residents even threatened in January to form vigilante groups to deal with the problem – a course of action their local MP advised against and a step police have warned is fraught with danger.

But the frustrations are understandable. All Gold Coasters are familiar with the problems of not having enough police officers, just as they are aware of how exposed the city was left to criminals when the State Government watered down the anti-bikie legislation.

Parents in the northern suburbs have said they are afraid to allow their children to play outside because of the risk that some speeding idiot will lose control. Locals were up in arms when youths used an abandoned Masters site at Upper Coomera as a makeshift drift track earlier this year.

People have a right to peace, quiet and security, but that isn’t possible when hoons rule the streets. Governments and bureaucrats seem blind to this as they play with budgets – an indication that priorities are out of kilter with those of the community.