QLD election 2020 live updates: Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington announces youth curfew
The Queensland LNP's controversial curfew has caused a stir online but the premier failed to condemn the policy.
Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington's election pledge to trial a curfew in the state's north to control youth crime has been slammed by advocates for doing "exactly what governments should not do".
The strategy will only serve to increase the number of vulnerable juveniles left in the prison system and do little to decrease the rate of crime, according to Sophie Levitt, a lawyer from Indigenous incarceration advocacy group Change the Record.
"Breach of bail offences just drives kids into the criminal justice system," she tweeted. "We know that the more you lock kids up, the more likely they are to reoffend. It doesn't work. It hurts kids and it makes our communities less safe."
Queensland Greens minister Michael Berkman was more direct, accusing the LNP for "blowing its racist dog whistle and perpetuating the blatant lie" that youth crime is rising.
"Cops do not fix crime," the Greens MP tweeted. "Prisons do not help kids. We need to raise the age of criminal responsibility and keep kids in community with properly funded social support services."
The three seats in Townsville are widely considered to be vital electorates to deciding which party will form government following the October 31 state election, with the Liberal-National Party previously signalling its intentions to capitalise on the topical issue of crime.
It has a former police inspector, Glenn Doyle, contesting the seat of Mundingburra and has previously committed to automatically locking up juveniles after a third conviction.
But the curfew is the most extraordinary pitch to prise the three marginal seats away from the incumbent Labor government.
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Under the plan, children aged 14 and under will be picked up by police if they are out past 8pm and those between the ages of 15 and 17 aren’t off the streets by 10pm.
They will be taken to local community refuges where they will be supervised and provided with support by youth and health workers, the party said.
Parents will be fined $250 if their children are unable to provide a reasonable excuse to why they're out past these times.
"We need to make sure this community is kept safe," Ms Frecklington told reporters from Townsville on Wednesday morning. "If you are on the streets doing the wrong thing, you'll be taken off the streets."
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the plan "doesn't cut the mustard", though this criticism was mainly directed at how the curfew would be implemented into practice rather than a belief it is a humane approach to fighting crime.
Ms Palaszczuk refused to reveal her thoughts on the curfew despite being asked repeatedly by reporters, insisting the main problem in the region is unemployment.
The blog is now done for today but have a read below for reactions on the LNP's curfew plan.
Originally published as QLD election 2020 live updates: Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington announces youth curfew