As most residents of Little Mountain and Meridan Plains are aware, this area is renowned for being a community where our kids can frequent all of the fantastic facilities available to them, after school and on weekends, without parental supervision since for pretty much anyone in the area, these facilities are only a few minutes from our doorsteps.

I've recently been witness to, and been informed of, a number of worrying incidents where kids have been severely bullied, assaulted, had their property stolen, had their property damaged, been chased, been sworn at, abused and threatened and other troubling incidents like kids throwing rocks at moving cars, tipping and destroying the bins, mugging other children for their money, slushies and lollies, stealing from the Night Owl, graffitiing, smashing bottles, and selling drugs to other minors.

We don't spend majority of our income on rent to reside here just to have our children / property in harm's way and constantly having to deal with these out of control kids who's parents more than likely have no idea of the damage they are causing to our community and to our children's spirits.

According to the Caloundra Police, and the Caloundra court house, there is no legislation in place in qld where a child is protected from being harmed by another child - there is no such thing as an AVO, intervention or protection order. There is also nothing in place which forces parents to be held accountable for and take preventative measures to ensure their children correct their behaviour, don't seriously harm anyone, and stay out of Juvy. This is really saddening, not only for the victims and their families, but also for these young kids who aren't getting the help and support (and consequences!) they need to correct their often dangerous behaviour.

A child over ten years old can be criminally charged under the youth justice laws however police have said they struggle to prove when such a young child is responsible for such acts.

Since the Little Mountain skate park is the prime location for these kids to hang about (most just to have a good time and practise their scooter tricks) and where a lot of the trouble is taking place, I strongly believe CCTV cameras need to be in place all over the skate park as well as the walkways leading to it where children are often chased down, as well as regular police patrols on weekend days and evenings.

I believe that this alone, will work as a deterrent to a large percentage of these kids who think they run the place and have this worrying confidence that they are untouchable when they are at this skate park.

I don't believe most of these kids are bad kids, I just feel that all the freedom they are given has them feeling a little too big for their boots and they deserve the chance to improve on their behaviour and choose a more positive path, the problem with that is, they have no reason to choose a different path if they aren't being directed away from the shitty one! Unfortunately that isn't going to happen as long as they are roaming free without any thought about the risk of being caught when they have that bad idea to go and do something stupid. And if (when) something terrible does happen, and someone is hurt, at least the police can have the proof they claim is so hard to obtain and can act!

Please sign and share this petition if you would like to see our beautiful community become that safe, tidy, friendly place it was when it first came to be, where our kids are safe from harm and we can have peace of mind that any dangerous or harmful behaviour will be addressed and dealt with appropriately.