Newsroom

April 28, 2022

KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, says the State Government has failed North Queenslanders by not acting on crime, after meeting with 25-year-old Mareeba business owner Zac Kroonenburg and co-owner Jared Yates, whose pet shop has been targeted by offenders five times including graffiti, shoplifting, vandalism, and theft - costing more than $5,000.

Mr Kroonenburg, the owner of Fantasy Tails Pet Shop, says stock has been damaged in the shop and that incidents mean his insurance premiums will likely rise.

“It’s frustrating because it feels like there is nothing we can do,” he said.

“Our premiums are going to go up and it’s likely we won’t get any restitution. It’s not a good time to be doing business.

“We caught one of the incidents on CCTV. Police identified the guy who had also kicked in the door of the KFC in Mareeba that night.”

Bob Katter says his party, the KAP, has been screaming out for relocation sentencing but has been ignored by the State Government.

The policy gives Magistrates the option to send youth offenders to an outback relocation sentencing facility in Kajabbi where the teens will be given valuable education and training in skills such as brick laying, fencing, livestock management, house building, cooking and much more.

Under the current youth justice regime, teenagers are either locked away in detention centres at extreme costs to the taxpayer without any hope of rehabilitation, or they are let back on the street and continue offending.

Mr Katter said the State Government was so emasculated that they had no ability to act on youth crime.

“I will be having discussions with Mareeba community figures and the legendary Tim White, from Kapani Warriors, about how we can move on relocation sentencing without the State Government,” he said.

“The State Government is so paralysed that we have to figure out ways of doing this ourselves. If relocation sentencing goes ahead, these kids will come back with skills and purpose, rather than the current cycle that increases crime.

“Relocation sentencing is based on the old law of banishment from 250 years ago, where if you played up you were sent bush. You were only allowed to return to the tribe when you were prepared to be civilised.”