A Brisbane cafe owner has blasted Annastacia Palasczcuk on morning television, telling the Queensland Premier to “grow a set”.
Sunrise hosts Natt Barr and Matt Shirvington seemed taken aback when Mark Ingham, who was being interviewed on the youth crime wave gripping Brisbane, said the Premier should “stop gallivanting around, around the world and telling everyone how good you are.”
Ingham’s business, Tribe Coffee Co, has been targeted three times in the past 12 months.
Speaking on the show on Wednesday, he said the most recent incident had seen an employee confronted by armed youths.
“The Queensland Premier, she needs to step up and do something about it, because it’s getting to the point where it’s beyond a joke now,” Mr Ingham said.
“As a small-business owner, as any small business can confirm, it’s hard enough to get staff. It’s hard enough at the moment with cost of goods going up and all his stuff going on in the background,” he said.
Later in the interview, the irate cafe owner said the Premier should “actually grow a set and look in your own backyard.”
“She needs to knuckle down and grow a set and actually do something about it because it’s gonna get to the point where someone’s gonna get hurt, physically hurt and yeah, you know we obviously we don’t want it to get to that point.”
Shirvington appeared shocked by Mr Ingham’s comments.
He then extended an invitation to the Premier to appear on the show and respond to Mr Ingram’s comments.
Co-host Nat Barr appeared as equally shocked.
“Tough words from Mark there, weren’t there?” she said.
In March, a special investigation by Sky News revealed the extent of the sunshine state’s youth crime crisis.
The growing crime wave has seen Palasczcuk introduce a suite of unprecedented measures, including making breach of bail an offence for children, expanding GPS monitoring for minors as young as 15, as well as committing $25 million to some of the state’s hot spots.
Authorities’ response to the spiralling crime wave came under the spotlight once again this week, after a devastating crash in Federal that killed three people.
Rafferty Rolfe, 25, is alleged to have stolen the car involved in the fatal collision at knifepoint beforehand.