Gold Coast Crime

PRIVATE MEMBER’S STATEMENT:

(Burleigh—LNP) (2.24 pm): As a father of three now adult kids who has raised a family in Burleigh and Palm Beach, I can attest to the fact that we have the best schools, the best beaches and the best lifestyle. However, all that is being threatened by Labor’s weak position when it comes to crime. I have never received so many calls, emails and Facebook messages reporting break-ins, hooning, car theft and destruction of personal property than I have in the past few months. Many locals are frustrated with the fact that they report many of these criminals only to see them get off with a slap on the wrist.

Just last week I was contacted by the South Coast Netball Association, located in Palm Beach at the Mallawa Drive Sports Complex. They told me that they have been seeing instances of broken beer bottles around the clubhouse, including glass on the courts, plastic chairs around the clubhouse from groups holding gatherings at the club, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights, suspected drug use, broken security lights around the clubhouse and public toilets left in a terrible, disgusting state.

They took it upon themselves to hire a private security guard for eight weeks on Friday and Saturday
nights. That cost them $135 a night, in total, $2,160. They got a pretty good response from having that
security guard there. It is very unfortunate they have had to hire this security guard, because the police
sometimes are not available; they have to reprioritise their time, and we all know that. This problem
exists because the Labor Party is soft on crime. They are soft when it comes to our judiciary. This is
leading to problems especially on the Gold Coast. Quite frankly, we need more police on the Gold
Coast.

I now turn to the tragic death of Nick Slater on the Gold Coast a few days ago. That is terrible. I
have swum around that area. There are known to be sharks in that area. The Queensland government
has a Shark Control Program. In fact, 12 months ago, on 20 September last year, the minister for
agriculture was given a report titled the Queensland Shark Control Program: Review of alternative
approaches. The minister has done nothing with that report. That is a terrible outcome, particularly for
Nick on the Gold Coast who passed away a few days ago. At the end of the day, the minister needs to
stop playing politics with this issue and get on with it.

I would also like to pass on my best wishes to Tim Mulherin’s family. He was a wonderful Labor
man and somebody whom many members opposite could do well to mirror.