Time for Premier to step up to lead youth crime fix

There is no quick fix to the state’s youth crime crisis. It demands a long-term plan developed by all stakeholders. But what it needs most is for the Premier to show some leadership, writes the editor.

Two years ago, you could not keep Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk from fronting the public almost every day as she proudly updated us about the Covid pandemic she was “keeping Queenslanders safe” from.

Fast-forward a couple of years and the Premier is nowhere near as visible on another pandemic that voters also expect protection from – the scourge of youth crime.

We would suggest this is because the Premier knows her current policy settings are not keeping Queenslanders safe – an awkward truth that prompted the unedifying spectacle of the state’s most senior ministers engaged in a public spat over whether the judiciary can be blamed for going soft on offenders.

But here’s the rub. The fault always lies with the lawmakers – in this instance a government that won office eight years ago yesterday (and surely now the statute of limitations for blaming Campbell Newman for all of Queensland’s ills has expired).

Premier Palaszczuk last fronted the media last Thursday, to make an renewable energy announcement at the Arnott’s factory in Virginia. Asked about youth crime, she simply attacked the Opposition, branding them “lazy” while questioning what their policies were on youth justice.

She noted that when she was opposition leader “many, many years ago” she had been “hounded” about her policies and plans.

Well, the Premier has now had “many, many years” to fix the youth crime issue. Those four year-olds who were enrolled in but not often showing up to prep classes when Ms Palaszczuk won office could have benefited then from a program of early intervention. Instead, those kids are now the 12 year-olds who are stealing cars and making trouble, a frustratingly familiar feature of the justice system merry-go-round.

But no. The newly minted Premier missed that chance, and instead as the years have gone by announced what in retrospect has been a hodge-podge of often contradictory responses to the issue every time it has flared up.

It is little wonder Queenslanders are fed up. But now it’s worse. Having seen three innocent people allegedly murdered by juvenile offenders in just the past three months, they are now fearful their car – or their life – could be the next one taken.

The extent that this has become a hot political issue was exposed last Friday when the leader of the Left in the Labor state caucus, Deputy Premier Steven Miles, launched an extraordinary spray at the judiciary after a magistrate in a single day released 13 alleged juvenile offenders back into the Townsville community.

His frustration is certainly shared by voters. But his direct criticism of the decisions by Magistrate Viviana Keegan not only sparked the fully expected outcry among the legal fraternity, but has also since seen his colleagues scramble to distance themselves from commentary that has reminded some of former premier Mr Newman’s excesses.

But here’s the rub: most ordinary Queenslanders – the swinging voters who will decide the election at the end of next year – don’t really care about a public debate over the appropriateness of comments made by politicians. They just want to feel safe in their homes again.

There is no quick fix. It demands a long-term plan developed by all stakeholders. And this issue is also is one that demands decisive political leadership. But where has the Premier been? For days, nowhere. For a politician who won an election on keeping us safe, the irony is clear.