Extraordinary moves by the State Government to house and protect reviled pedophile Dennis Ferguson are an insult to the thousands of needy Queenslanders left homeless on the street, one local councillor says.
Real estate agent and Logan City Councillor Sean Black said he had campaigned for years on the issue of affordable housing in the Logan area - where Ferguson was this week moved and where hundreds of men, women and children were forced to sleep rough each night.
He said it was beyond comprehension that the government had chosen to give Ferguson priority assistance, including paying a local church group $1000 a day to house and supervise him, when a dearth of affordable housing had left so many without help.
"We know that the waiting list for government housing is seven to 10 years in Logan alone," Cr Black said.
"I dont understand why the most reviled criminal in the country gets priority housing because the Minister for Police is worried he might become homeless.
"It is simply appalling."
Ferguson was urgently moved to the south Brisbane suburb of Carbrook after being run out of the rural township of Miles, on the Southern Downs, by a protesting mob last week.
He is now under 24 hour police guard amid fears for his safety.
Cr Black attended a community meeting in Carbrook last night, where anger boiled over at Police Minister Judy Spence's handling of the affair.
He said he and his young family lived just "five minutes" from the convicted child molester.
"He is (living) on a multi-million dollar acreage property that a family could do well in. A family of six could live in there, but intead, they're on the waiting list.
"It's just mind boggling that we, as taxpayers, are paying for it."
Cr Black is now calling on Housing Minister Robert Schwarten to release figures on the number of vacant houses available in Logan and the number of people currently on government housing waiting lists.
"(He should) provide an explanation why a dirty pedophile can move straight into a government house while struggling families are left on the street"s.
He said the government had underestimated the depth of anger felt by residents in Carbrook, or the lengths they would go to to drive Ferguson out.
But he questioned claims made by Ms Spence on radio this morning that Ferguson's life was now in danger.
"I never heard anyone say 'I want to kill that man' or harm him," Cr Black said of the fiery meeting.
"People just want him to go away.
"This is not a quarry being built or a development that we have to accept. We won't go away until he moves."
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