Safety advocate welcomes MP’s stance on buffer zones to protect children

Helen Tagg “I am speaking up as a mother because the issue has been ignored and deferred for too long. Ignoring risks does not make them disappear.”

Nambour homelessness petitioner and safety advocate Helen Tagg has welcomed what she describes as “clear and unequivocal” support from Nicklin MP Marty Hunt for the introduction of buffer zones around public parks and playgrounds, while expressing disappointment that Sunshine Coast Council has shown little urgency in adopting short term measures to keep children safe.

Concerns about safety in Nambour’s parks began surfacing months ago. Parents and residents have reported threatening behaviour in the CBD, antisocial conduct in family recreation spaces and growing fear that authorities were not responding quickly enough. 

Community services have warned that rising housing stress and limited crisis accommodation were placing pressure on public spaces. Some parents and nearby residents also raised concern that individuals with prior convictions for violent offending were staying within metres of children’s spaces and school boundaries, heightening anxiety and reinforcing the need for clearer safeguards.

During this period, council withdrew its BushCare teams from Nambour parks after staff reported verbal aggression and threatening behaviour from people sleeping rough in the area. The Gazette understands the withdrawal was described internally as an all-of-council safety measure. 

Volunteers recently returned, although work at a Quota Park site was subsequently paused after further aggression toward workers. Mrs Tagg said the quiet withdrawal of its workers by council, after months of community concern, had left residents frustrated and uncertain.

Call for safety buffers around parks & playgrounds

As community anxiety increased, Mrs Tagg authored a proposal calling for defined safety perimeters around high-use children’s areas, including parks and school grounds. She said the intention was not punitive, but preventative, giving families confidence that public places remained “safe, visible and predictable”.

“The goal of buffer zones is to protect children,” she said. “Schools and children’s recreation areas are high-use environments, and the community has a reasonable expectation that these spaces remain safe. Without defined boundaries, all responsibility is placed on families and park users to manage risks they cannot see or assess. 

“We apply child safety measures in every other part of society. We require blue cards for anyone working with children, we slow down traffic near schools and we enforce licensing laws around alcohol. We do these things because childhood is vulnerable and worth protecting. Areas surrounding schools and playgrounds should be no different.”

She said she was encouraged that MP Marty Hunt had acknowledged the proposal and said that police were willing to support council in establishing exclusion zones if requested (see Q&A with Mr Hunt this edition). 

She said the State had demonstrated readiness to collaborate on public safety, whereas council’s reluctance to commit to practical short-term steps continued to place families at risk.

With little communication surrounding the management of parks and safety measures, Mrs Tagg requested a meeting with CEO John Baker to seek clarity and discuss interim responses. Instead, she was offered a meeting with council’s Director of Community Strengthening. She accepted the invitation, but stressed it should not replace her request to meet with the CEO.

In a letter to council, she said the situation now raised broader governance issues. “We are three months into this situation, during which council publicly committed to urgent action around the management of parks. The community can not continue with further delays.”

Mr Hunt, in the Q&A,  also rejected council’s repeated assertions that homelessness was solely a State issue, noting that councils were responsible for managing their parks and that immediate short-term actions were available.

The inconsistency between council’s communication and the State’s position is one of the reasons Mrs Tagg has escalated her concerns to the CEO’s office.

Mrs Tagg said her reasoning for zoning children’s spaces is straightforward. “Right now engagement with rough sleepers relies on people self-identifying. So support services and families have no way of knowing who is staying beside a playground or school unless it is volunteered,” she said. 

“That gap could be exploited and become harmful to children, and it should not take a crisis for us to act.”

She said council was unintentionally forfeiting public spaces for prolonged shelter use, and the lack of oversight is affecting both community use and Nambour’s reputation. “Every other area of government responsibility is guided by risk management, yet our parks have been left without clear direction,” she said. 

Mrs Tagg said she never set out to be an advocate. “I am speaking up as a mother because the issue has been ignored and deferred for too long. Ignoring risks does not make them disappear.”

She said she understood the complexity of homelessness but believed council had a responsibility to manage parks safely. 

Council responsible for its public spaces

“I have never asked council to solve homelessness. I have only asked them to manage public spaces and advocate to the State for housing solutions. The community deserves more than being told ‘it is someone else’s problem’.”

Mrs Tagg said her goal was to strike a balance  between community expectations and the needs of people experiencing homelessness. “Keeping children’s areas safe and protected would help diffuse tension, reduce confrontations and give everyone more certainty,” she said. “Most people want practical solutions that protect families while still treating those doing it tough with dignity.”

As safety concerns mount and residents become more vocal, Mrs Tagg said families wanted practical action, not further delay. She said compassionate housing responses and child safety strategies could progress together. “My advocacy for more housing does not undo my advocacy for safe spaces, and that is something I will always stand by,” she said. “Both Quota and Petrie Parks are not suitable living environments and we need a better approach.”