Alexandra Hills fatal crash: Were softer youth justice laws to blame?

The Government must quickly ascertain if any element of its softening of youth justice laws contributed to the Alexandra Hills tragedy.

A young couple and their unborn baby are dead after going for an afternoon stroll with their dogs on Australia Day.

A 17-year-old who was out on bail for a string of driving offences has been charged with their murder after slamming a stolen four-wheel-drive into a truck, rolling and hitting the couple.

A grieving community is meanwhile angry and demanding answers for why this alleged offender was on the streets at all – and why it seems the justice system has failed yet again.

Speaking yesterday in Townsville – a city that knows a thing or two about the impacts of rampant youth crime – Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk extended her sympathy to the families of the deceased couple, Kate Leadbetter and her partner Matty Field.

Yet when pressed on the adequacy of Queensland’s youth detention laws, Ms Palaszczuk quickly ducked for cover, claiming the police investigation would delve into such matters so it was not appropriate for her to comment further.

That’s somewhat misleading.

The coronial investigation may well consider if any inadequacies within Queensland’s laws contributed to this tragedy.

But it is the Premier and her Government’s responsibility to also be proactive here.

Rewind just two years, and we find a cash-strapped second Labor Government deciding the solution to Queensland’s overburdened detention centres was a softer approach on crime.

Under the 2019 Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill, the justice system’s ability to keep alleged young offenders behind bars was seriously diluted.

It ensured elements of the Bail Act no longer applied to young people, strengthened the “detention as a last resort” framework, and weakened the ability of prosecutors to argue that an alleged offender was an ongoing risk.

These changes were a solution to the political problem of alleged young offenders being locked up in adult watch-houses because there was nowhere else to put them.

Or as Youth Minister Di Farmer said at the time: “When it is safe to do so, we want children out of detention, especially when they have not yet been convicted of an offence.”

But all the 2019 “reforms” did was embolden young recidivists, who no longer had to fear the consequences of going before the courts.

Consequently, less than a year later – and six months before the state election – the Government was forced to partially unwind its controversial changes amid growing community concerns that youths facing criminal charges were running rampant, notably in the political battleground of Townsville.

Those changes dictated that magistrates needed to give a greater focus on keeping the community safe when bail decisions were made.

Or as Ms Farmer offered: “We are committed to keeping community safety as our No.1 objective.”

Ensuring young accused don’t serve remand in adult watch-houses may well still be the correct approach.

But Queensland’s youth justice laws are yet to be fully restored.

And now a young couple just months away from the birth of their baby and about to begin the journey of being a family are dead.

It is for the courts to decide the fate of the accused teen.

But the Government must quickly ascertain whether any part of its youth justice framework allowed this catastrophe to happen – and then decide what can and should be done in its wake.

No system is ever perfect.

But like all Queenslanders, the Premier was no doubt touched by this tragedy. We therefore have no doubt she will do the right thing.

DESTINATIONS NEED ASSISTANCE

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is right to call on the Federal Government to extend its JobKeeper payment beyond March to those who used to work in the industries most exposed to international travel.

The simple fact is that tourist destinations like Cairns are in a world of pain, and with little hope as there will likely be no international travel for at least another year.

With estimates from the locals that 12,000 jobs in the Cairns region alone could be lost overnight if JobKeeper is stopped at the end of March as planned, the need is clear.

You can often wonder about the value of politicians travelling around the state at taxpayer expense.

On this occasion, however, there can be no doubt it is worth it for the Premier to hear first hand the trouble the Cairns region is in – and then consider her response.