THE Cairns CBD’s business boss is backing claims that service providers are not doing their fair share at the coal face of the city’s crime issues.
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers yesterday called on other government departments to act on the back of spiralling juvenile crime rates and ongoing anti-social behaviour by itinerants which he said were being left for police to deal with alone.
Figures this week showed the Far North had the highest number of juvenile crime offences recorded across the state for the past two years.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Nick Loukas said action was being strangled by bureaucracy, highlighting the huge size of one of the committees involved.
“One committee has over 20 people on it – nothing gets done in a committee of 20 people,” he said. “There are good people trying to do work, but there is too much bureaucracy.”
He said there was a “huge amount of buck-passing” and Queensland Health, Queensland Corrective Services and the Cairns Regional Council needed to play key roles.
The issues were highlighted in a letter to the editor published in an edition of the Cairns Post last week where a Brisbane woman spoke of feeling intimidated by itinerant behaviour and said she would deter others from visiting Cairns.
Cairns MP Michael Healy said he had been seeking urgent meetings with senior ministers over the issue.
