Residents feel safe where they live – Our Cairns s

More than three-quarters of Cairns residents have indicated they generally feel safe where they live, and 70 per cent have not been a victim of crime in the past five years, according to results flowing in from the Our Cairns surveys.

There are just 10 days left for residents to complete the multi-faceted survey that enables people to tell Council their views on a plethora of subject matters, from issues such as crime and does Cairns needs more police on its streets, to whether dogs should be allowed in the CBD and the possibility of the city hosting schoolies events.

Since being launched at the end of August, more than 6000 residents have completed surveys, which includes about 800 responses for the inaugural Youth Survey.

Interestingly, the results show a trend towards residents generally feeling safe where they live – 47 per cent indicating they feel safe in their suburb all the time and a further 29 per cent feel safe during the day.

Just over 70 per cent of respondents said they had not been a victim of crime in the past five years and of those impacted by a crime, property and vehicle theft topped the list.

The trend is similar in the Youth Survey with 76 per cent of respondents indicating they generally feel safe where they live, while over 75 per cent of respondents said they had not been a victim of crime in the past two years.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning said it was pleasing to see that most people felt safe.

“These results are very pleasing, although perhaps a little surprising when you consider that crime is in the media just about every day,” Cr Manning said.

“With just over a week left for the Our Cairns surveys, I would urge all residents to take the time to respond; your input is invaluable in guiding Council’s decision making.

“The more respondents, the greater the cross section of views from the broader community, and therefore the better the information.”

Cr Manning said he was confident that this year’s survey submissions would surpass the 6400 responses from the 2016 exercise.

“We will soon be developing our new corporate plan which guides Council in its decision making over the next four years and the Our Cairns survey provides us with a lot of information that feeds into this document,” Cr Manning said.

Both surveys can be done online (www.cairns.qld.gov.au/ourcairns), with the overall survey also available in printed version at Council libraries and customer service centre. Hard copy surveys can be returned to those areas once completed.

The Our Cairns Survey will be available to complete until 16 October.