It was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, assistant commissioner Paul Taylor said. 

But the crime needed to be put into perspective. 

“While it was a tragedy as far as arson of a police station, it was a arson,” he said.

He confirmed that Mount Isa’s remoteness naturally meant less services than the bigger cities, but the strong sense of community was an advantage in overcoming youth crime. 

“We’ve got finite resources and obviously we’re looking at resourcing but that’s why the additional staff (six more police officers) are coming here, they will be embedded here, they will be part of the community.

“Obviously everyone knows when you go to bigger cities there are a lot more services, the beauty of Mount Isa is it’s a galvanised community, we have seen that in tragic circumstances here where the whole community came together,” the assistant commissioner said, referring to the caravan explosion in July in which two children died. 

“People that never talked to other people were suddenly conversing and are probably still friends now. 

“It shows strength well and above its numbers and where it’s located so it’s a great thing." 

The acting commissioner was with the deputy commissioner Ross Barnett in Mount Isa on Monday.

Deputy commissioner Barnett was meeting leaders of the community, having recently been appointed to regional operations of which Mount Isa falls into. 

The operation that brought 20 additional police officers short term into Mount Isa after the police beat was burnt down, was a topic of discussion. 

So was the root causes of juvenile crime was blamed on the parents of children that contributed to crime in the city. 

Cr McGrady said he was sick of people “passing the buck” for parental responsibility, and it was an issue to be discussed at the next roundtable meeting