‘Graffiti-free town’: MP urges quick reporting, rapid clean-ups to enhance safety

Nicklin MP Marty Hunt has issued a call to arms for businesses and residents to help make Nambour a graffiti-free town, saying the visible blight of tagging created a sense of unease and discouraged investment and foot traffic in the CBD.

Mr Hunt is pushing for a simple, visible fix for town amenity and confidence: remove graffiti fast – and do it together.

Speaking at the Nambour Chamber of Commerce Coffee Catch Up at the Nambour Museum on Thursday (September 4), Mr Hunt praised volunteers who took part in last weekend’s Big Spring Clean, which saw community members fan out across the town to spruce up parks, paths and public spaces and remove ugly graffiti.

“That was an idea born by Rhonda Billett in the Nambour Groups meeting and we said, ‘Let’s just do it,’” he said. “It was a really positive day and I’m sure it lifted the town’s appearance and its spirit.”

Mr Hunt also acknowledged The Shack Community Centre, whose volunteers ran a similar clean-up in local parks in recent weeks. “Congratulations to Dale (Dowler) and your group for bringing the community together,” he said.

But it was the problem of graffiti that Mr Hunt highlighted as a key focus for the future.

“I took great delight in washing down graffiti that day and getting rid of tags. It really brightens the town,” he said. “Studies show that graffiti makes people feel unsafe. It makes a town feel unsafe, and I want Nambour to be a graffiti-free town.”

Mr Hunt said the only way to achieve that was through collective action.

“Photograph, report and remove quickly,” he urged local business owners. “If you don’t have the capacity to do that, call me and I’ll come down and help you. Honestly, I will.”

He warned that if graffiti was left to accumulate, it could feel overwhelming. “If we can stay on top of it and as a community decide we are going to be a graffiti-free town, that will add to that feeling of community safety,” he said.

Mr Hunt linked the anti-graffiti push to wider initiatives such as the police beat, CCTV upgrades and planned improvements to walkability in Mill Street.

“Ultimately, I want people to feel safe in Nambour,” he said. “I want people to be confident to invest in business here, to be confident to walk around and shop here. Let’s aim for a graffiti-free town.”

Mr Hunt is pushing for a simple, visible fix for town amenity and confidence: remove graffiti fast – and do it together.