Mr Howard who was voted in as the city's new Neighbourhood Watch divisional area co-ordinator taking in Coolangatta to Coomera, said he looked forward to banding together with the community to see change.

"I think our achievements in the future will be excellent and substantial for the community," he said.
The Robina resident said graffiti was a major issue in the city.

"We believe it is now out of hand and should be addressed by politicians," he said.

He said he wanted to see harsher penalties and fines of $2000 for the "tagging offenders".

According to a Gold Coast City Council spokesman, the council spent $1.4 million between the 2009 and 2010 financial year cleaning up graffiti around the Gold Coast and $1.6 million in the 2010 and 2011 financial year.

Mr Howard said graffiti was an ongoing issue that needed to be tackled.

"What the perpetrators don't seem to understand is their parents and the community actually pay for repairing and constantly repainting over the graffiti," he said.

Attorney-General and Minister for Justice Jarrod Bleijie said graffiti was an act of vandalism and the Newman Government wouldn't tolerate it.

"The government will introduce laws that place a compulsive order on offenders so they have to clean up their own mess instead of it being left to police, community and councils," Mr Bleijie said.

"This will not only help reduce the amount of graffiti spoiling our public places and property but also deter offenders from doing it in the first place.

"We will also look into increasing the maximum penalty for graffiti crime under the Criminal Code from five to seven years with a strong emphasis on naming and shaming graffiti offenders."

Mr Howard also highlighted the importance of more people attending the quarterly Neighbourhood Watch meetings.

 

 "It is disappointing to see only about 20 people turn up," he said.

"I would love to see attendance numbers double.

"The meetings provide an opportunity for people to express and get their opinions heard, while seeing what the rest of the community thinks," he said.

The next Neighbourhood Watch meeting will be held on July 31 at Merrimac State High School, Mermaid Waters.