Thuringowa candidates invited to tackle local ‘crime crisis’
A “CRIME crisis” needs to be recognised in the Thuringowa electorate, according to local community groups and residents.
Social justice campaigner Jeff Adams – who founded the One Standard, One Community (OCOS) community group – said “voters are fed up” with escalating youth crime.
Mr Adams and OCOS are calling for all candidates to attend an “action session” on September 21 to hear the community concerns from the mouths of the constituents and ensure action is taken “no matter who gets in”.
“The community needs a voice … to ensure a bipartisan approach to this crisis, devoid of party politics and egos and create real change,” he said.
“Every night there’s a problem … it’s doing our heads in.
“We need someone to push for change.”
Mr Adams said OCOS was politically unaffiliated, but predicted the Thuringowa seat would come down to the wire, with minority parties attracting growing support from those who had suffered.
The advocacy group – which includes local Indigenous elders and social justice campaigners – has established an action plan for combating crime in Thuringowa and catalysing “generational change”.
The first step is a local candidate acknowledging “a youth crime crisis”.
“We’ve had KAP candidate and One Nation candidate sign our memorandum of understanding,” said.
With more than 22,000 offences committed in Thuringowa in five years, the issue of tackling crime looks set to dominate the state election
Mr
Adams campaign. Labor incumbent Aaron Harper has held Thuringowa since 2015, cinching his second term in 2017 with a thin margin of just 4.1 per cent.
Mr Harper said the major issues in the electorate were the health and economic response to COVID-19, including job creation and crime.
Mr Harper said he was proud of his track record of delivering while citing voluntaryassisted dying would also be an issue in the seat.
Pauline Hanson’s party has chosen Troy Thompson to run against Mr Harper.
“The major issue in Thuringowa and Townsville is crime,” Mr Thompson said.
“If you look up Thuringowa and Townsville in Google, it’s crime, crime and crime.”
Amid a raft of crime policies for Queensland, One Nation wants to create outback and regional boot camps for young offenders and scrap Labor’s controversial bail houses.
LNP candidate Natalie Marr said there were no surprises crime was the No 1 issue in Thuringowa.
The Opposition has announced that, if elected, young crims would be jailed under a three-strikes mandatory detention policy.
Julianne Wood is running for Katter’s Australian Party, which secured more than 15 per cent of the vote in 2017. She also wants to fix youth crime.