How horror of youth crime crisis may have turned vote blue in Hervey Bay and Maryborough

In Hervey Bay and Maryborough, the scars left by the youth crime crisis are all too obvious. Carlie Walker reflects on how that trauma may have contributed to a swing to the LNP in those cities.

Uber driver Scott Cabrie.

A lot has changed since the last state election, when then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk swept to power on the back of her slogan of keeping Queensland safe during the Covid pandemic.

Back then Labor MPs were able to bank on her popularity.

And the worst incidents in the state’s youth crime crisis were yet to make headlines.

Then on Australia Day in 2021, Matthew Field and his partner, Kate Leadbetter, who was six months pregnant, were walking their dogs southeast of Brisbane when a vehicle struck them.

The 17-year-old driver had run a red light and collided with a truck before rolling and hitting the couple, killing them both and their unborn baby.

The teen fled, stealing keys from a nearby house before being caught by a resident and arrested.

That was not only a heartbreaking moment for the state, but I believe it was a pivotal moment for the government, although we might not have known it then.

That’s because it was far from a one-off incident.

Hervey Bay Uber driver Scott Cabrie and 18-year-old Tye Wayne Porter.

In Hervey Bay and Maryborough, where the LNP has made huge inroads, now claiming the seat of Hervey Bay and claiming a massive swing against three-term incumbent Bruce Saunders that may yet turn the seat blue, the trauma caused by youth crime is still being felt in our communities.

In Maryborough in April 2023, a 13-year-old driving a stolen Mercedes caused a crash near the sign on Saltwater Creek Rd that welcomes people to the usually quiet city.

I’ll never forget waking the next morning and learning that three women in our city had been killed, a young dancer, a mum and pastor and a nurse.

There are moments that stop you in your tracks as a journalist.

I spoke to Mr Saunders many times that terrible week.

He set up counselling for those who needed it, he fought his own government for change.

Mr Saunders was in regular contact with the police about the youth crime situation and how that young boy had managed to make his way from Bundaberg to Maryborough to cause the crash that terrible night.

The teenager has since pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and is set to be sentenced next month.

Hervey Bay’s Scott Cabrie.

I don’t think Mr Saunders could have done more for his grieving community – but I do think the community was scared.

I think we are all still scared that our loved ones could be snatched from us by a juvenile behind the wheel of a stolen car.

But if youth crime was on everyone’s mind in Maryborough, half an hour away in Hervey Bay the community was struggling with trauma caused by young offenders as well.

In February 2023, much-loved Hervey Bay Uber driver Scott Cabrie had been killed by two teenagers.

His body was found by a boat ramp at Howard after his worried friends searched for him for days.

Tye Wayne Porter, 18, would later be sentenced for manslaughter, while his 17-year-old co-accused pleaded guilty to murder.

The crash killed Michale Chandler, Kelsie Davies and Sheree Robertson.

The younger teen was sentenced to 15 years in jail but could be released on parole after serving 60 per cent of his sentence, which is a period of nine-and-a-half years.

Porter was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years behind bars, with a non-parole period of six years.

Is it any wonder Opposition Leader and now Premier-elect David Crisafulli hit on a winning slogan when he campaigned on Adult Crime, Adult Time?

Just as Ms Palaszczuk promised to keep us safe from Covid in 2020, Mr Crisafulli was making a new promise – to keep us safe from the rise of youth crime while also offering a pathway to rehabilitation to some of the state’s youngest offenders.

I can’t say I’m surprised the message was effective in Hervey Bay and Maryborough.

Of course, youth crime won’t be the only reason there was a swing to the LNP at this election.

But it would be naive to think it hasn’t played a part.

And little more than a year after the Fraser Coast faced dual traumas caused by youth crime, I think it would be naive to think we aren’t still healing.

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