Crime the key for us in North

WHILE the Courier Mail and Townsville Bulletin’s Your Say survey is not a scientific poll, it does shine some light on the mood of North Queensland as we head into the October 31 election.

The state’s biggest ever sentiment survey had about 800 responses from North Queensland from the 8000 plus respondents across the state.

Many of the questions showed just how much North Queensland differed from the rest of the state.

Creating jobs and driving down crime were overwhelmingly the top priorities across Queensland and the biggest issues the state government needs to address.

But in North Queensland crime was by far the biggest issue.

While much of the state is pleading for jobs North Queensland is desperate for an end to the scourge of youth crime.

In Townsville, an incredible 45.9 per cent put tackling youth crime as their number one government priority, double the number calling for more jobs (22.7 per cent).

It’s no wonder – crime has been a crisis in Townsville no one seems to be able to solve.

Older northerners were even more concerned, with crime topping the list for more than half (51.5 per cent) of seniors aged 65-74 years.

Another question saw nearly 80 per cent of Townsville residents saying they had been affected by youth crime.

That was far away the largest number for any region in the state and shows that there is a real issue, despite what many in Labor would admit publicly.

The Townsville Bulletin has been campaigning long and hard on the issue, yet not much seems to have been done.

There is still yet to be a solution put to the electorate that could help.

Today a group of people are coming together in Townsville to try to come up with a solution in a bipartisan way.

It will be interesting to see what politicians turn up and what they have to say on what is clearly a crucial election issue.