A MAN has faced court charged with attempting to abduct an eight-year-old girl from her family’s car in the central Queensland town of Emerald.

Kenneth Vairy, 36, was refused bail after appearing in Mackay Magistrates Court via video-link on one count of enter premises to commit an indictable offence.

Vairy was arrested last night, hours after police released CCTV footage showing a man trying to grab a girl from the back seat of a vehicle while it was parked outside a local hotel yesterday morning.

The footage shows the man quickly returning to a white Toyota HiLux ute after the girl began screaming and a hotel worker walked past both vehicles, police say.

The girl appeared to have been left in the sedan when her mother and a sibling got out to enter the hotel, possibly for a toilet break.

Vairy has been remanded in custody and will next face Emerald Magistrates Court on January 9.

The girl was not physically injured as a result of the incident.

Detective Acting Inspector Luke Peachey said the mother of the young girl had been returning a number of children home from a birthday party and was walking a child into the premises when the attempted abduction took place.

Det. Act Insp Peachey said it was a very concerning incident.

He urged the community to look after young ones and keep an eye on them as unfortunately, there were people who wish to commit such crimes.