Crime wave creating a ‘gangster’s paradise’: Dametto

Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto is fed up with North Queensland’s crime wave.

THE lack of real consequences for criminals who continue to destroy people’s lives has been highlighted in a stirring speech to parliament by Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto.

Mr Dametto shared a deeply personal account of his mother being held at knifepoint at a service station some years ago as an example of the long-lasting impact crime can have on victims.

“My mother lost 12 months of her life because of the stress that put on her,” he said.

“These people are out there taking that away from people. They do not deserve to be out there. If we do not come down hard on crime, all we are creating is a gangsters’ paradise for the perpetrators.”

In his speech, Mr Dametto pointed to the reality of hardworking Queenslanders going to work every day to pay for the “things they enjoy”, only to have them ruined by criminals.

“People go to bed at night concerned that when they wake up in the morning their vehicle may not be in the driveway or their house or business may have been broken into,” he said.

“What is that doing to Queenslanders and people in the northern region, especially in my electorate of Hinchinbrook? The Deeragun BP had its windows smashed in and perpetrators entered and stole items from that business. Last week in Ingham there was a spate of property crime. These are not only hardened adult perpetrators but also hardened juvenile perpetrators who are coming in and taking people’s livelihoods away.

“It is the little things that add up. The juvenile delinquents who are breaking into these places are only stealing the float, a couple of drinks and those sorts of things, but it is the $600 door that has to be replaced every time this happens or the cash register that has been ripped out and stolen.”

According to the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office Crime Report, there were more than 240,000 reported property offences in Queensland during 2017-18.

Mr Dametto said Katter’s Australian Party would continue to push for its relocation sentencing policy, which would send young offenders to an approved property in a remote location where they would work on the land to learn life skills to become contributing members of society.

“The State Labor Government has failed in their duty of care to make our communities feel safe and need to drastically rethink their approach to crime,” he said.

“There needs to be real consequences and deterrents or else this misery will just continue for honest, hardworking people.”