Libs’ tough talk on law and order continues as mayor hoses down talk of Glenorchy crime wave
Tasmania’s police minister has continued his talk tough on law and order as Glenorchy’s mayor said a school holiday spike in youth crime in the city was being overblown.
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Tasmania’s police minister has continued his talk tough on law and order as Glenorchy’s mayor said a school holiday spike in youth crime in the city was being overblown.
Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services Felix Ellis signalled the Liberal minority government was again looking at introducing harsher punishments for young offenders.
The Greens and lawyers who act for young people warned against kneejerk responses that would wind back the work of the Commission of Inquiry.
“All options are on the table,” Mr Ellis said on Tuesday.
“That includes what’s happening in other states, looking at policy prescriptions like they have in Queensland ‘adult crime for adult time’, a range of other opportunities, so that we can target the repeat violent offenders that we are seeing in this space.
“There are a small number of youth — about 50 youth — that commit half of all youth crime in Tasmania.
“So we’ll be looking very closely at options like bail and sentencing and how other states are approaching these matters.
“We’ve seen in Queensland strong success from adult crime adult time, a reduction of about a third of those serious crimes committed by youth offending.
“It’s clear one of the worst things that you could do for a young person is to teach them that there are no consequences for their actions.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show youth crime was the second-lowest on record last financial year, continuing a long-term declining trend for both the number of offences and the number of offenders.
Glenorchy Mayor Sue Hickey said she was surprised to hear local MLC Bec Thomas talking about “out of control crime”.
She said neither Ms Thomas or any other local MP had raised the issue with her.
“Just in December, we were really celebrating a drop of 37 per cent in shoplifting and significant reduction in crime, but there’s just been a brief uptick in crime, and we are concerned about that,” she said.
“We also need to keep in context that it was just school holidays, so we had a lot of bored kids roaming around the city.
“I’d like to assure everyone that Glenorchy is a beautiful, safe city to come live, work, play and do your shopping.
“All of us who live here find it a really lovely place to live. So it’s not a sudden crime hub, we have not turned into a very bad city.”
Glenorchy Inspector Jason Klug said there had been an unusual spike in isolated incidents in Glenorchy which had increased community concerns.
“What we’re seeing is an isolated, relatively small number of incidents that have occurred over the last couple of weeks, and I understand and am hearing loud and clear the community concern.
“Outside of these incidents, I can report that Glenorchy is a safe place.
“Some of the strategies that we have enforced are an increase in foot patrols, and also working with our Operation Saturate in targeted activities to overcome what’s been seen in recent days at Glenorchy.”
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service called out the Premier’s comments on Monday regarding “Adult Crime – Adult Time” laws as unacceptable.
“These comments are a knee-jerk reaction by Premier Jeremy Rockliff in relation to incidents of crime in Glenorchy,” TALS CEO Jake Smith said.
“We totally recognise that community safety is vital – everyone deserves to feel safe.
“However, ‘Adult Crime – Adult Time’ approach to youth crime is not an effective solution.
“Both overwhelming data and research shows that locking up kids leads to more crime, not less.”
Queensland adoption of tougher penalties for young people have been condemned by the United Nations, Amnesty International, Save the Children and other bodies as infringing fundamental human rights.
Greens spokeswoman for Children and Young People Cecily Rosol said the government’s approach was wrong.
“Jeremy Rockliff has pointed to extreme laws introduced in Queensland as “working well” to address youth crime.
“There is no evidence for that, and it’s deeply dishonest to suggest otherwise.”
Originally published as Libs’ tough talk on law and order continues as mayor hoses down talk of Glenorchy crime wave
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