LAWLESSNESS NOT OK

ANOTHER violent attack on a worker in a shop in the CBD who is just working hard to provide for their family.

Attacks on workers, stealing from shops and diners at restaurants, racial abuse, antisocial and drunken behaviour, graffiti, breaking shop windows, begging for money and cigarettes, groups of out-of-control youths high from substance abuse, some of the girls even carrying knives, itinerants urinating and defecating on footpaths and gardens. Not a good look for a city that relies on tourism – and things don’t seem to be getting better. Even some locals don’t feel safe in the city centre anymore, especially at night.

The council security people who walk the streets are a waste of ratepayers’ money as they have no powers to detain or arrest. They have to wait for police to show up which at times can take a long time as the police are busy out in the suburbs trying to catch the juvenile car thieves. Cairns needs more police in the city centre on foot patrols 24/7. Shovelling dirt at the site of a new station in the suburbs (CP 5/05) will do nothing to clean up the problems in the city.

The Covid mandates and lockdowns did enough damage to tourism in Cairns, and the ongoing lawlessness could be the death knell for some of the surviving businesses if it is not cleaned up. The time for action to fix the problems is overdue. William Munroe, Manunda