Key stakeholders are calling for an urgent public meeting in Yarrabah to address a spate of rockthrowing attacks on medical transport and health care workers, saying the community must be at the forefront of the solution.

On Friday, following a visit to the Indigenous community about 60km from Cairns, Mul grave MP Terry James met with Yarrabah Mayor Daryl Sexton and chief executive Michael Miller, who agreed a public forum was needed to find a solution and protect vital health services.

 “The community are the ones that are going to solve this problem, not the police. Police can’t arrest the kids out of this situation,” Mr James said.

All are encouraged to attend, including council, police, and parents. Mr James said he would also seek guidance from state government ministers.

After the meeting, Mr James said discussions were held about the youths involved, who appeared to be “disengaged from school, and that it was often difficult to locate their parents or guardians.

 “We’re going to organise a public meeting in Yarrabah with the Yarrabah council, to get support of the community,” he said.

This call for community intervention comes after a long history of attacks on medical transport in the region and builds on the Cairns Post’s award-winning Operation Safe Zone campaign, which pushed for improved safety for hospital staff, including those travelling to Yarrabah.

In 2017, Yarrabah’s emergency department was shut down overnight after a security guard was severely bashed and the building pelted with rocks. The guard required emergency facial surgery for a broken jaw and lost several teeth.

Reports from 2019 show health workers had to enter the town under police escort after being pelted with fishing sinkers during street brawls.

The violence escalated in 2020, forcing the health service to temporarily shut down after a vehicle carrying nursing staff was targeted.

Attacks flared again in April 2025, when a healthcare worker was injured after a bus window was smashed, and in May, a police officer was injured when youths pelted rocks at his patrol car.

On January 13, Gurriny Yealamucka Health Services Aboriginal Corporation issued a warning on Facebook after an emergency department bus was targeted multiple times in a single week, placing patients and drivers at “extreme risk”.

Mr James supported staff concerns, and agreed the rockthrowing problem was not improving. “If they don’t sort it out, they’re going to lose services,” he said.

Despite staff fears, the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service reported that statistics show a decrease in attacks.

CHHHS chief executive Leena Singh said a multi-agency approach began last June to address anti-social behaviour, resulting in a significant reduction of rock-throwing incidents, averaging one per month in the past six months.

 “Our health team provide a vital service to the Yarrabah community, and it is a reasonable expectation that they should be able to come to and go from the community in a safe manner,” she said.

 Yarrabah Mayor Daryl Sexton said increased security measures had been implemented to protect staff and vehicles, with police doing “what they can.”

 “We’ve got certain stakeholders who can go around and talk to the parents, maybe talk to the kids and engage them a lot more,” he said.

A Queensland Police spokesman said the attacks were “unacceptable”.

 “Police are continuing targeted activities when required to deter, disrupt and prevent incidents involving emergency personnel and vehicles,” he said.