Recently Pauline Hanson has penned her thoughts on a Greens Senator’s article in Gladstone Today (7/6/2023). Senator Hanson’s article comes off the back of that same Green Senator claiming, via Twitter, that Queensland’s crime problem was a ‘right-wing fantasy’.
The escalation of brazen youth crime in regional Queensland is a complex problem that requires complex solutions, but any solution must put community safety and security first.
The safety and security of its citizens is the primary responsibility of any government.
Parliaments must develop laws with penalties that effectively deter or punish crime.
Police must have the personnel and resources needed to enforce the law effectively.
Courts must impose penalties that ensure justice for victims and consequences for perpetrators and which meet community expectations.
However, in many regional Queensland communities, people are living in fear.
It’s not panic whipped up by political activism.
It’s genuine and justified fear for the safety of families, children and property caused by the ever-present threat of escalating crime and the seeming powerlessness of the government and police to stop it.
Little wonder people in impacted communities like Rockhampton are rallying for a stricter approach that puts the congregation before the criminals terrorising them.
They’ve had enough of seeing brazen and violent crimes committed by out-of-control youths who, after being caught, are back on the streets the next night.
They’ve had enough victims dying in home invasions or accidents caused by reckless hoons.
Far-left Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne claims the ‘far right’ is stoking fear about marginalised communities in this debate.
Ironically, the soft-and-cuddly approach to youth recidivism marginalises Rockhampton and other communities in regional Queensland she advocates.
These kids indeed have many problems, but this approach has been tried to death and hasn’t worked.
They need some stricter love. Greens whipping up panic by conflating a desperate community living in fear with extremists will solve nothing – this isn’t the place for cheap political point-scoring.
There are some excellent programs for young people at risk of falling into the cycle of crime.
People have developed them from similar backgrounds: community-led solutions by formerly troubled youths who turned things around for themselves.
These programs teach responsibility and self-worth based on genuine achievement.
I am a strong supporter of these sorts of programs because they make a difference, and I’d rather see troubled kids put in these programs than in a youth detention centre – provided, of course, there is no risk to community safety.
Community safety must always come first. No amount of condescending lecturing by far left about poverty and homelessness will make the community safer, mainly when it’s Labor-Greens climate change and immigration policies causing increased poverty and homelessness in Australia.
One Nation doesn’t lecture and doesn’t condescend: we listen.
That’s why we hosted an open community forum in Rockhampton to discuss escalating youth crime in regional Queensland and hear from the community – including Indigenous members who attended – about their experiences, ideas and concerns for their families.
The community must be engaged in the fight against escalating youth crime because, ultimately, it is the community to which government and law enforcement are accountable.