Cash to fight crime
HERBERT MP Phillip Thompson is tapping into North Queensland voters’ desire to stamp out youth crime with the LNP hopeful promising another $1.29m for an organisation to help 12-17 year olds build life and vocational skills.
This is the MP’S third crime-related election promise since the campaign started.
The latest funding announcement, which is for an early intervention program at In-step Industry, will help fund the Brighter Days program, with participants learning skills for life and giving them an opportunity to have a meaningful and productive future.
Mr Thompson said he believed every level of government had a responsibility to address the high crime rate in Townsville.
“What we do is put funding into early-intervention programs,” he said.
“We can’t change the state legislation or state law.”
When pushed about other avenues the federal government could take to make change, Mr Thompson said the government had also put funding into the Salvation Army Drug Rehabilitation Centre, and provided funding for the experts to help address systemic issues.
Mr Thompson said projects like Brighter Days were not a reward for bad behaviour, but a chance for at-risk youth to set goals and achieve them.
IN-STEP Industry general manager Dean Wilson said the program would give kids options.
“What we’ve seen for a long time now is that young people who don’t engage in school or have issues at school, don’t have other options. The options they do have are very specific options,” Mr Wilson said.
“What we’re trying to offer is an opportunity for young people to explore their own future, and to have a look at what they can possibly achieve.
“Hopefully by giving them that motivation and that goal in their life, it keeps them away from crime.”
Mr Wilson said each young person had individualised barriers that were stopping them from becoming involved in the things they want to be involved in.
“We look and try to find out what those barriers are and then address them directly,” he said.
Mr Wilson said there were a lot of programs like this in the past, but government funding had been reduced over time. As a result, the sector had lost a lot of staff, and young people had lost the ability to go somewhere to get the help they needed.
“Those things are being rebuilt now and starting to come back into place,” Mr Wilson said.
Political scientist Maxine Newlands said Mr Thompson’s push on the crime front could be bordering on tapping into “fear politics”.
“Crime is definitely an issue in Townsville and the region, and the root cause of that crime is all kinds of things, including low wages, and lack of infrastructure and support systems for certain demographics,” Dr Newlands said.
“Not to dismiss crime in any way – most people are impacted in one way or another, if they’ve not had a direct impact, they know someone who has.
“But at the same time, crime always comes up in election, it’s quite low hanging fruit to a certain extent and it’s in danger of tapping into that fear politics, of generating fear to generate votes.
“It is something that always comes up but that is not to dismiss it.”
Dr Newlands said voters who see politicians and candidates offering solutions as opposed to highlighting the issue, would secure votes for people concerned about that issue.
She added that in the later stages of the campaign, crime was not as prominent as it had been, so she was unsure it would still be on people’s radar when it came to voting. Labor candidate John Ring said if he was elected, he would work closely with the community to identify critical local projects.
“I will also work closely with the state government on their existing crime prevention initiatives,” he said.