Govt to respond to police station petition

Bushland Beach resident Kaye Greaves has had her parliamentary petition for a police station in the suburb tabled in parliament.

A PETITION calling for a police station to be built at Bushland Beach has been formally tabled in parliament following a campaign to improve community safety.

The e-petition and paper petition, which was started by local resident Kaye Greaves and sponsored by Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto, attracted more than 800 signatures and will now be assigned to the appropriate Minister for a response within 30 days.

“Residents have a right to feel safe in our community and this petition sends a message to the State Labor Government that they are doing nowhere near enough to combat crime,” Mr Dametto said.

“We’ve got daily incidents of unlawful entry, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, theft, vandalism, assault and other anti-social behaviour in the Bushland Beach and Mount Low area and people feel a stronger police presence would help to curb these incidents.”

Mr Dametto welcomed moves by northern beaches residents to work with police in exploring the option of setting up a Neighbourhood Watch for the area.

“Having those extra eyes and ears on the ground would be a tremendous help to police who have a difficult job in keeping the peace,” Mr Dametto said.

“Lowering the crime rate will take a joint effort with a number of different elements working together. It’s going to involve the community, police and the right legislation which will get these offenders off our streets to be properly punished and into programs that will actually work to reform them.

“That’s why Katter’s Australian Party believes in pushing relocation sentencing policy to deal with the young offenders who are the ones responsible for a large portion of the lawlessness out on our streets. The community has had enough, they want them off the streets. We believe they should be sent to a harsh remote location on an approved property where they can learn discipline and life skills with the intention of breaking that crime cycle.

“The KAP will continue to be a strong counterpoint to the State Labor Government’s soft approach to the youth crime crisis plaguing our region.”