Burleigh MP on consequences for vandals under 18

• Police are now on the hunt
• "Arson was front and centre around our thinking for adult crime adult time  and we strengthened our laws just recently."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Locally. Last night Burly Hill was alive on fire. The
photos are absolutely hectic and people worried about the wildlife there,
especially the koalas. So we thought we'd go to Herman Roster,
local MP, who is at the forefront of everything and
kind of becoming the fourth member of the show at
the moment. Herman good More.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm usually under fire, so well should today be any different?

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Well, yeah, I noticed that you've made comment about the
Burly fire and thought it was good to connect. You
probably know more than we do what's going on.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
What we know is that a fire is or ripped
through the eastern portion National Park. We were alerted around
nine point thirty. Now the fires kind of run itself
out and that's because it's largely consumed the grassy stuff
there by the boulders. I really want to thank you Cupist.
They did an incredible job as well as our rangers
getting things under control. We're not quite sure how much

(00:52):
damage the ocean track has the same, so that's been
closed pending assessment, which you are going to inconvenience a
lot of people who of this part of the world. Importantly,
police are now on the hunt. We want to establish
whether this was deliberate, the reports that it is, and
we want to find out who's responsible because it's a
much loved part of the coast and it's got to

(01:13):
be consequences for action. What sort of things can happen
to just say, if it's someone under eighteen that's done it,
with the been yahooing, what sort of the things they
could be facing. Yeah, look, obviously that's a matter for
the police and the courts, right, but I can tell
you Arson was front and center about thinking around adult
crime at all time. So when we strengthen those laws

(01:35):
just recently, if you're a young offender, Arson is now captured.
Now again, I just want to put a big asterisk
on that. It's a matter for police and courts. I
don't know who did this or if they were underage,
but we do take Arson extremely seriously, and now youth
offenders are treated as adults.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Now you burnt it just sort of burnt out. People
worried about animals and why it was left to burn
out rather than put out. Do you have any answers
for that?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Look, I don't know. I mean, qusus are extremely experienced
in the space, so I trust their professionalism and judgment.
So I'm sure they've done everything correctly. What we are
dealing with from chatting with some experts is the grassy undergrowth,
so that's the light fuel, easy to ignite, that's burned through.

(02:24):
So as the animals are concerned, of course, this is
really sensitive koala habitat. You know, I don't know what's
happened to those koalas. I suspect that they've had time
to move on. Let's hope.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Say yeah, well, Kroma Wildlife sanctuaries nearby, they will look
after him for sure. Thank you so much for joining us.