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| CR. SCHILLING EXECUTES HIS FIRST BITCHING RATEPAYER |
And ol' Cueball has been positively brutal on the Member for MacKenzie the last few weeks as Operation Escalate ended and the CBD returned to its former state. As things tend to do when the core issues are never addressed.
"Fixing" the crime situation has been reduced to a few simple steps by John MacKenzie. These simple steps include:
"Getting Rid of the Drunks"
"Give the Communities their Alcohol back
so the drunks won't come here"
"Boot Camps for Teenagers"
"More Police"
"Sacking the Magistrates"
Under the unrelenting pressure, Gavin "Don't Rape Me" King is starting to upchuck nonsense he's apparently read on the internet, with little understanding of what it really means and even less understanding of what it costs. And while this matches King's obvious low level of intellect, we're hearing even educated Cairns residents starting to repeat this phrase as the new community mantra.
ZERO TOLERANCE
The idea behind "Zero Tolerance" as a crime fighting tool came from a 1982 article by two well-known New York conservatives. The "broken window" theory says: . . "if the first broken window in a building is not repaired, then people who like breaking windows will assume that no one cares about the building and soon the building will have no windows". Zero Tolerance (many believe mistakenly) redefines social problems as criminal offences. Zero Tolerance programs require a whole-of-government response - not just by police but with council officers, community groups, state ministers, and others. Zero Tolerance is very expensive crime fighting.
New York has over 35,000 police officers - Queensland, 11,000 or 1/3 the number per capita compared to New York City. A city like San Francisco has just over 2,200 police officers. While New York saw a crime decrease explained by the politicians as "the result of Zero Tolerance", San Francisco had a similar drop in crime by using Community Policing - in most ways the exact opposite of Zero Tolerance. Cairns has - well, the QPS won't tell us how many police officers. It's a secret. We're always told when the new ones arrive, we're never told when an officer leaves, or transfers, or is sacked. But whatever the number, as Operation Escalate has shown, we don't have the police numbers to sustain an even limited "Zero Tolerance" approach to crime from the QPS in Cairns.
The fact is New York NEVER had Zero Tolerance policing, but a hybrid of Zero Tolerance on livability issues with Community Policing carrying the ball for crime control. Gavin King's an idiot if he thinks otherwise. New York is a good model, but it's a model for efficient, resident-engaged policing and low prisoner incarceration. It's a model that is politically unsustainable in Australia, where police are controlled by politicians 2000 km away instead of under local control as is the norm in most of the world. And Australians are notoriously loath to overhaul anything, instead rewarding politicians for slight-of-hand government that is more magic than governance.
However it now looks like we're going to have some 1980's approach run down our throats by these political idiots. What do these pollies do on their "educational" junkets overseas? They don't seem to learn a bloody thing. And what about the rest of the system? Are they ready to pitch-in with a true "Zero Tolerance" approach in Cairns?
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| THIS BUILDING OF "TOWN PLANNERS" CONTRIBUTES TO THE BLIGHT THAT IS NORTH CAIRNS |
Firstly, there's the Council Under every mayor in the last 20 years, Cairns Council has shown little compunction to follow the "broken window" theory. They can't even repair their own shabby footpaths, street lighting, and other essential services. Under Mayor Sleepy Bob, council officers charged with local law enforcement have been cutback, and a whole host of anti-social activity is being tolerated, angering the community. Caravans parked on the Esplanade (in the CBD, in Machans, in Trinity, in Clifton). Graffiti everywhere (one estate office on Sheridan has been tagged for over a year, they refuse to fix it and so does Bob Manning's staff). Disgusting looking buildings in the CBD with landlords still extorting the highest retail rents in Australia. Nope, our Council has no political will to enforce "Zero Tolerance".
The magistrates? They're being painted by John MacKenzie as the real villains in this story, with Martin "Borman" Tenni now suggesting that the separation of powers act be rolled back. Is he mad?
Judges are already under massive political control by the party in power, via the budget. Judges in Cairns Courthouse are said to get a memo, every month, from the attorney general's office advising them of the maximum number of "prison slots" allotted to them. As pointed out last week, Lotus Glen isn't full, and has over 300 more cells coming available soon. But there is no budget for more guards and other staff, hence what's been built is more of a roach motel. This is all political control of the judges already - and Tenni wants MORE?
ZERO TOLERANCE COSTS BIG MONEY
So in the coming days and weeks when Gavin King professes to have "been to the mountaintop" and stumbles in with his "comprehensive plan for crime fighting in Cairns", everyone have a hearty laugh when he talks about "Zero Tolerance" and the New York success story. For it will be another LNP fraud.
9 comments:
I've called council about the Newman Manor realty office, too. Keep in mind virtually every pollie in town or visiting goes by this travesty everytime they fly out of town. You'd think that one of them would have a little political disgust at this place. It also has a sign larger than the floor plan of the actual office. This kind of crap is all over the city, and with the walking dead for councillors it's no wonder it won't get fixed.
The wall is private property.
The wall is situated on private property.
Council cannot just go in and repaint it at ratepayer expense.
Who knows, the wall's owner may have painted the "offending" paint job themselves.
Or they like what's been painted there.
That's right - it is their wall.
So, HBW, do you think indigenous crime should be dealt with as a separate issue to non-indigenous crime?
What do you suggest is done?
The truth is that King is floundering; hasn't a clue. But he rationalises that it's better to say something, than nothing (unlike his wiser Barron River counter-part who never says anything). And as a journalist of sorts, saying anything just came naturally, even dumb stupid things, but it didn't matter then, he was just playing to an audience in the same way as Mackenzie. Now, it's a problem. Sometimes saying anything can work for him, but mostly it just highlights his ignorance - and flip-flopping - on the issues a good local member should be across.
Fact is, Cairns would be no worse off without him. We could just live up here and accept the decrees imposed upon us from LNP headquarters down in Brisbane, because that's what's happening anyway. And here's a question: Is King the member for Cairns representing us in the parliament in Brisbane? Or is he the member for Newman representing Newman in Cairns. The answer is obvious, and it's a travesty that we pay his parliamentary salary, because any objective analysis would conclude it should be paid by the LNP.
"Zero tolerance" has a nice sound to it, and rolls off the tongue easily, so the hillbillies and brain dead out there will be parroting it over and over ad infinitum.
Gavin King likes over-simplifying ideas to appeal to the braindead. Using cliches like "cutting the fat", "more cops on the beat" and "Zero Tolerance" has instant appeal to the stupid who like parroting them back as if they are easy solutions.
Hey anonomous 19.03
Sounds like Factman talk.
Looks like Manning took you back on after VAL sacked you.
King represents Mackenzie in Brisbane and then represents Newman in Cairns. That sums it up in a nutshell.
I don't think King actually supports what Mackenzie says, he's just happy to go on his show and nod along, placate the oldies who ring in and have his voice heard every now and then.
I doubt he's ever taken one of Mackenzie's ideas to his bosses, Newman and Springborg. I doubt he's ever taken any idea to Newman and Springborg, they just dictate his soundbites. I doubt they even tell him when cuts are being made up here, he always seems surprised by them. He's a PR exercise for the Brisbane LNP. I'm tipping a big slide in country votes at the next election for the LNP, most people going to KAP. The 'N' in the LNP is completely done for now, it's a Brisbane party with absolutely no affiliation with the country or regional areas. Anyone who still votes for the LNP and lives outside of SEQ is voting against themselves.
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