“I’m not going to give them one millimetre on this,” Crisafulli told reporters last week.
The problem for the government,whosemost recent youth crime crackdown already effectively does this for kids declared serious repeat offenders,is it has shown it is willing to give that and more.
Loading
On bypassing its own human rights laws to create a new offence for young people who breach bail conditions – which experts say will probably drag more kids deeper into cycles of crime.
On changes to thetax paid by property owners with land across multiple Australian states.
Crisafulli has suggested voters will hear more about the LNP’s broader ideas about the “gold standard” early intervention,which experts say is key to addressing issues causing youth crime.
But he gives airtime to ideas from the police union that kids should be named and shamed – another of the LNP’s widely criticised policies from its 2013-15 stint in government – or treated as adults for serious crimes.
Labor’s Maryborough MP,Bruce Saunders,has called for an inquiry into how the incident happened and takeover of residential care homes – where some of the state’smost vulnerable children live – by justice authorities.
In September,only 5 per cent of the 1500 kids in residential care statewide were also on a youth justice order.
Palaszczuk said this week she could not stop every instance of youth crime.
Loading
Crisafulli initially called this an “extraordinary statement” before being presented with an echo of it from his own mouthback in February. Pushed on whether he stood by this,he said he would “never throw in the towel”.
The sentiment is shared by police. “We’re never going to eliminate all crime,” Capricornia district Superintendent Glen Ponting told reporters in Rockhampton on Monday.
The officer had fronted media after dozens of people surrounded a house they believed to be the home of two young First Nations people responsible for recent crimes.
The youths’ names had been shared on social media by former One Nation candidate andPatriots Defence League-linked Torin O’Brien,who led the rally.
Ponting warned anyone considering taking matters into their own hands that such an approach was “fraught with danger” for everyone,nodding to a recent case in Townsville involving a fatal crash allegedlycaused by a vigilante.
He also said police would be reviewing footage of the Rockhampton incident to determine if any members of the group should face charges themselves.
Both Palaszczuk and Crisafulli called for the community to let police do their job on Monday. Both need also toup their efforts to push debate away from punitive measures which will not help.
Tom Allsop,chief executive of residential care sector group PeakCare Queensland,said the toughest laws on the outcomes of youth crime could only go so far.
“But you are not going to fix the problem until you have smarter approaches for preventing the causes of youth offending in the first place,” he said.
ICYMI
With the next state election not due until October 2024,youth crime will remain a major feature of public debate – particularly if the LNP’s last state premier hasanything to say about it.
A byelection for the Gold Coast-based federal seat of Fadden could come much sooner,after former cabinet minister andinfamous internet user Stuart Robert (who presided overmuch of the robo-debt saga and facedmore recent questions around lobbying) announcedhis resignation.
HEADS UP
As the entirety of Queensland’s parliamentary operation takes staff and 93 MPs north to Cairns for this week’s sitting,legislative debate in the makeshift house will focus onLabor’s path to treaty process.
But you can expect Tuesday night’s federal budget to raise a mention. So too,will crime. One local group has organised a “stop the crime” protest outside the Cairns venue on Wednesday.