Labor gung- ho about lockout laws yet timid of youth curfew

I ATTENDED a crime forum last weekend for the sole purpose of asking our sitting MPs a specific question.

With the state election today and crime out of control in Townsville, I was surprised and disappointed that Coralee O’Rourke, Scott Stewart and Aaron Harper didn’t show up.

Hopefully one of the Bull- etin’s readers can answer the question for me instead.

I wanted to ask our Labor members why they aren’t willing to trial a youth curfew to reduce our crime, even though they introduced curfews for adults with their lockout laws.

In January, Anthony Lynham ( a Labor MP from Brisbane) said Labor would not introduce a youth curfew because it wasn’t fair to punish the majority for the crimes of a few, but that’s what the lockout laws do. Lynham is the same politician who led the charge on Labor’s lockout laws, and O’Rourke, Stewart and Harper followed his lead on that.

Do our three Labor MPs think that curfews don’t work for 17- year- olds, but they magically start working the day they turn 18?

Labor says adults cannot be trusted to make responsible decisions between 1am and 5am, and that a curfew is necessary to prevent alcoholfuelled crime.

They, however, won’t even consider a youth curfew to prevent problem.

Why is it that Labor don’t trust me ( a 30- year- old professional who has never been in trouble with the police, or had alcohol- related health problems) to make responsible decisions after 1am, but they do trust the 14- year- old who tried to break into my house last Townsville’s crime month to be out on the streets at 1am?

Can someone explain that logic? I am sick of reading about stolen cars and youth crime, and it’s time we tried something new. Hopefully after today we will have some MPs willing to do just that. TODD HODKINSON,

Townsville