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Why is Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk coming under fire from embittered locals over this photo at a fruit festival?
- Annastacia Palaszczuk angered Toowoomba locals
- She did not attend her crisis meeting on Wednesday.
- She went to a nearby fruit festival on Saturday.
Fed-up locals in a crime-ridden city criticized Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk for snubbing them into posing for pictures at a fruit festival.
The Labor premier repeatedly declined invitations to meet residents for a crisis meeting on Wednesday to address the out-of-control crime wave hitting Toowoomba.
Instead, he promised to visit the town of Darling Downs, 125km west of Brisbane, ‘imminently’.
But locals were furious when they saw its premiere at the Chinchilla Melon Festival on Saturday, just a two-hour drive from Toowoomba.
The prime minister was seen laughing with locals, waving at parades and posing with emergency workers.
But while Ms Palaszczuk said the event “puts smiles on people’s faces”, Toowoomba residents felt less festive.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has come under fire for attending the Chinchilla Melon Festival on Saturday after declining an invitation to the Toowoomba crisis meeting on Wednesday (pictured Ms Palaszczuk waving to a parade on Saturday)
Ms Palaszczuk (left) was seen laughing with locals, waving at parades and posing with emergency workers instead of addressing the nearby region’s crime epidemic.
National Party leader David Littleproud called on the Premier to move the visit to Toowoomba to the top of his list of priorities.
“He flew over Toowoomba so he could land so he could have a conversation with the community,” he said.
“To do your job, you have to listen to the people, get in front of the people, and if you have that opportunity, you have to seize it with both hands.”
At the Toowoomba Community Safety Forum on Wednesday night, hundreds of angry locals met with high-ranking police officers to find solutions to the city’s growing crime epidemic.
Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Head of the Juvenile Justice Task Force, Deputy Commissioner George Marchesini and Darling Downs District Superintendent Doug McDonald attended the forum.
It follows the death of photographer Robert Brown, 75, who was killed in the Toowoomba CBD earlier this month while waiting for a taxi.
Three teenagers have been charged with murder in connection with his death.
A devastated resident at the forum said “at least 95 percent” of the people who attended were victims of crime.
Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio wrote Ms Palaszczuk a personal invitation to the forum after she declined several other invitations to the event.
Hundreds of angry Toowoomba residents (above) attended a Community Safety Forum on Wednesday night following a spike in violent crime
Ms. Palaszczuk (pictured on Saturday) declined several invitations to the forum, including a personal letter from the mayor.
She refused again, instead saying she would visit the suffering small town ‘imminently’, mail reports.
On the worsening Toowoomba situation, Mr Antonio said: “We’ve seen street shootings, a street stabbing in Toowoomba and that’s not what Toowoomba is about.”
‘This is a much better community than that and the people who are perpetrating these crimes, we really don’t want them here.
“We have to work together to make sure we preserve livability, viability, and the beautiful environment in which we live.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Prime Minister for comment.