Editorial: Youth crime crisis didn’t just happen

It is just such a shame that it always seems to take an innocent death for this Labor government to act, writes the editor.

It is now abundantly clear that Premier Steven Miles must be tougher on youth criminals. It is just such a shame that it always seems to take an innocent death for this Labor government to act.

The latest request from the police union is for electronic ankle bracelets to be mandatory for all juveniles who are granted bail.

Police commissioner Katarina Carroll says they certainly need to be used more broadly for youth criminals – a logical request, as it gets around the issue of activist magistrates who think (rightly or wrongly) that detention should be the last resort for under 18s.

Similarly, the call from police union boss Ian Leavers for an expansion of “wanding” powers that allow officers to use metal detectors on people in all public places should be a no-brainer.

There should of course never be a need for any Queenslander to be carrying a knife in public.

It is clear that so much more still needs to be done. As we reported yesterday and again today, the rates of youth crime continue to rise at a dramatic rate despite now multiple rounds of Labor government crackdowns.

This is not a media beat-up, as some have tried to claim. It is a crisis – as most Queenslanders would wholeheartedly agree.

The Miles government must meanwhile put so much more into early intervention programs. It is said that prep-level truancy is the top indicator of which kids will be stealing cars before they are even teenagers. Knowing that, we have failed as a community if any five year-old not regularly turning up to school is not having the proper support wrapped around them.

It’s not like they weren’t warned. It was way back in 2018 that a review by the state’s former police commissioner Bob Atkinson said early intervention was the key “to stop young people going off the rails”. That was six years ago, meaning the five year-olds who could have been diverted then are the 11 year-olds now off the rails.

We know very little was done, from those at the coal face who have since told of the frustrations they had with all the Palaszczuk government ministers who would not even accept meetings to discuss the important topic.

This is, then, a pretty awkward topic for Premier Miles. He not only hails from the Left, but he was one of those ministers sitting around the Cabinet table in those early years of the Palaszczuk government as time and again changes were made – probably with the best of intentions – to go softer on young offenders.

It began as a square-up to what were seen as the excesses of the Newman government, as things like youth criminal boot camps were shut down. But pretty quickly the Left-dominated government had abolished breach of bail as an offence and reinstates the principle of detention as a last resort.

By 2019 the government’s Youth Justice Strategy was boasting that is was focused on keeping young offenders out of both court and custody. Laws were then passed to allow more young offenders to be released immediately rather than keeping them on remand, and banning the use of electronic tracking devices on children.

It was not until March 2020 that the worm started to turn after community outrage in North Queensland following a record surge in break-ins and car thefts.

But the genie was by then well and truly out of the bottle.

VENUE REVIEW LEAVES PREMIER IN PICKLE

This week’s stunning intervention by Olympics supremo John Coates into the state government’s ongoing venues review leaves the Premier in a seriously uncomfortable position.

The point of the review was really only ever to give cover for Steven Miles to walk away from the rebuild of the Gabba – a project he, as the responsible minister, had touted as the only option in the weeks before his predecessor Annastacia Palaszczuk resigned as premier.

And so Mr Coates was hardly taking a risk in sticking his neck out and saying the Gabba rebuild “just doesn’t stack up”.

But what he has done by doing so ahead of the government’s review being finalised late next month is to suggest that he is the one in charge of deciding the venues for the 2032 Games – and not the government that is paying for it. It will now be up to Premier Miles if he wants to be seen to be challenging that.

Regardless, the demolition and rebuild of the Gabba is now dead, but we would remind all involved that there remains a genuine need to refurbish the stadium – not just as a Games venue, but as our state’s home of AFL and cricket. Perhaps a concourse over Main Street to seamlessly link it to the Cross River Rail precinct is also still a possibility. It would make a huge difference.

Upgrading Suncorp Stadium to a 60,000-capacity venue, as proposed by Mr Coates, would also be a good move for our rugby league-mad city. As for holding the ceremonies there, a cauldron at the Cauldron does certainly have a ring to it.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here