‘Race to the bottom’: Palaszczuk U-turns on LNP youth justice measure

The Queensland government will reinstate a Newman-era youth justice policy amid mounting pressure from the opposition and sections of the community to toughen its stance on crime.

Advocates say the move to criminalise the breach of bail conditions under a new offence will only draw more young people deeper into a justice system already straining at the seams.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczcuk said the move was being made “in the spirit of bipartisanship”.Credit: James Brickwood

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the move had been signed off by cabinet on Monday, alongside a further $42 million package for police, ahead of the first parliamentary sitting week of the year.

“We understand how the community is feeling and community safety does need to be paramount,” she told reporters.

After a series of high-profile killings alleged to have been carried out by young people since December, long-running calls from the LNP escalated to a three-point plan on Sunday.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, Palaszczuk confirmed her government’s initial December response to public and opposition pressure would be broadened and introduced to parliament once it resumed for 2023 on Tuesday.

Cabinet had signed off on a $42 million package for high visibility police patrols and an expanded “flying squad” of police and youth justice department officials.

Breach of bail would also be created as an offence “in the spirit of bipartisanship”, Palaszczuk said.

Palaszczuk would not be drawn on any new funding for early intervention and diversionary programs, but suggested with little further detail that the government was reviewing its existing suite.

After previously suggesting the new laws would be rushed through this week, Palaszczuk said they would now go through a fast-tracked two-week committee process to allow public consultation.

Palaszczuk denied it was a populist move, saying they were listening to both evidence and the community. Police Minister Mark Ryan said the LNP’s version of the laws was “fake breach of bail”.

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman, who took the unusual step of exiting Monday’s regular pre-parliament meeting of Labor MPs with Youth Justice Minister Leane Linard beyond the reach of reporters’ questions, gave a detailed rebuke in parliament in June where she said the LNP’s version of the offence “did nothing to reduce crime”.

She said even the Childrens Court had described the laws as “flawed” and cited statistics that only 185 young people were ever convicted of the offence, technically a finding of guilt while on bail, and 90 per cent of these reoffended within one year – growing to 94 per cent over two years.

While the LNP were quick to claim the new offence as a win, experts and advocates have warned the decision will only heighten pressure on the state’s at-capacity youth detention centres straining after Labor’s 2021 crackdown.

Dr Troy Allard, a senior criminology and criminal justice lecturer at Griffith University, said the new offence would only widen the net available to capture the one-in-five boys and one-in-10 girls who will be charged by police between the ages of 10 and 17.

“It can’t really have a deterrent effect because that will mean they have to consider the [new] offence while they are committing the offence on bail,” he said.

“It can only drag more young people deeper into the system because it’s creating an offence for something they are already doing.”

Sisters Inside chief executive Debbie Kilroy said she was horrified the Labor government was “leading the assault” on what would be predominantly First Nations children.

Justice Reform Initiative executive director Mindy Sotiri said the leaders of both major parties were “on a race to the bottom” rather than listening to a recent open letter from more than 50 experts and organisations calling for a smarter, not tougher, evidence-backed approach.

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