Every corner of Mount Isa speaks up on Youth Crime

That's exactly what the North West Star has done and there has been some interesting feedback from those who are directly involved with the issue.

Queensland Police Service - Superintendent Andrew Gillies.

"Overall it is such a complex issue and I understand the communities frustration, the reality is that it has been like this for a very long time, this hasn't just begun recently.

I have a lot of confidence in the Youth Hub, there are a lot of kids just wondering the streets late at night. That for me is always a flag, if these kids are bored they will do something for kicks.

If we can get these kids off the streets, into either education or jobs and have them actually wanting to do it then we can make progress, the question is how do you do that."

Federal Member for Kennedy - Bob Katter

The indigenous Aboriginals before us believed in banishment for those who continued to play up. So it does not seem controversial to bring a method of punishment like that back.

It is costing us $540,000 per year to house these kids in detention. When we could be sending them out on farms to learn skills for free. Every single one would be taught how to lay bricks and would then return with skills and discipline. They would then be able to get hired and earn a very good wage. Relocation sentencing is the answer.

State ministers - Minister for Police Mark Ryan and the Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer.

Both the Minister for Police Mark Ryan and the Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer agrees there is no "one fix" and that long term solutions are the key to making progress.

The Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer said the community expects young people to be accountable for their actions and so does the government.

"We are delivering the most significant reform of the youth justice system ever to be undertaken in Queensland, investing over half a billion dollars to reduce crime and re-offending."

The Minister for Police Mark Ryan said community safety was of paramount importance to the Palaszczuk Government.

"I was pleased to visit Mount Isa last year to launch the Community Connect Project. It's had great success in turning young lives around by giving young people access to education, training and jobs. This program is putting young lives back on the right track."

Local MP - Robbie Katter

There are a lot of ideas out there to help curb youth crime but I think the main ones we should focus on are extending hours of service providers, relocation sentencing, blue card accessibility and a bilateral policing agreement with the Northern Territory.

We need to extend the hours of these service providers to after hours. This is because most of the crimes are being committed when these places are shut and there are hardly any places where these kids can go.

In order for this to happen we would need legislative change.

General opinion of the public.

There were a lot of ideas and opinions on how to curb youth crime. The poll we conducted received almost 200 votes with relocation sentencing coming in first and harder punishment coming in second.

Boot camp came in third. This tells us that the public is either scared or frustrated and want to see change throughout the community.

It also tells us that not everyone may understand the complexities of youth crime as these solutions do not solve the core reasons such as broken homes which cause youth crime.

Kalkatungu Elder Clive Doyle.

Mr Doyle said they were afraid a death would happen if they didn't take charge of the youth crime issue.

"We see so many bad posts on social media about kids break and entering, and as Elders of this region we want to take charge of the matter and for everyone to help us to make our community great again. It won't be long people start taking matters in to their own hands," Mr Doyle said.

Father Mick Lowcock.

Fr Lowcock said it was a small amount of kids who were causing the huge problem.

"We have to tackle it on an individual case by case standard.

"A lot of the kids who commit youth crime come from disadvantaged and homes with not much money. We work on building trust with the parents and continually work on making sure the kids are happy."

Mayor Joyce McCulloch.

Mayor Joyce McCulloch thinks a government review should take place into programs and agencies which may not be working or could have gaps in order to solve youth crime.

"The problems around youth crime usually begins at home, so it essential that we look at what programs are currently in place to address this, and potentially, why they are not working," Cr McCulloch said.

"Children aren't born with a criminal nature they are simply a product of their environment."

Read More: Ministers for Police and Youth speak out on Mount Isa youth crime

Read More: Locals voice their opinion on ways to solve Mount Isa's youth crime crisis

Read More: Superintendent Andrew Gillies talks about Mount Isa youth crime

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