Youth bail houses fail dismally

ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2017, Queensland Attorney- General Yvette D’Ath labelled me “wilfully irresponsible” for comments I made about youth bail houses being dangerous for our community and questioning where exactly these facilities would be located.

Fast forward 11 months and we find out this ill thought out experiment has resulted in 35 critical incidents in Townsville.

Five of the youths housed in these facilities have since been charged with new offences.

Then there’s the news that there is no formal education program set out and those who breach curfew are not reported to police. It truly baffles the mind. Sadly it did not take a crystal ball or a genius to figure out this was always going to be the outcome.

Unlike the Member for Townsville who told the Townsville Bulletin in August 2017 that the youth bail houses were a “great idea”, I actually live in West End where one of these bail homes is located.

I cannot state more categorically how much I reject the idea that I, my daughter, our neighbours or community should have to live side- byside with criminals. I wonder if the Member for Townsville would accept this for his own family? I highly doubt it. This really must be one of the worst $ 1.8 million of taxpayer funded initiatives to ever have been spent in North Queensland.

The “evidence” Labor loves to speak of is overwhelming – it is time for our elected representatives to stop being irresponsible and scrap the youth bail houses, stop treating criminals with kid gloves and start teaching them responsibility for actions. The safety of its citizens is a basic responsibility of any government. Community safety must come before criminals every time. CASIE SCOTT,

West End.