LNP state conference: David Crisafulli to address youth crime ‘failure’

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli will use the LNP state conference to call out the government’s youth crime record.

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has accused the state government of taking blame shifting and hypocrisy to a new level on the issue of youth crime, while imploring his LNP colleagues to back his push to overhaul the state’s child safety system.

Mr Crisafulli will use a key speech on Sunday at this year’s LNP state conference to draw attention to the 1700 children currently in residential care, while noting more than half of those who had an interaction with the youth justice system were also known to the child safety department.

“One of the many groups the government has blamed for the Queensland youth crime crisis are parents – Queensland parents – and here is where it gets interesting,” he says.

“The state government is the biggest parent in the state, with over 1700 kids in out-of-home residential care.

“The state government has responsibility for 11,500 kids in various child safety arrangements.

“The government cannot blame carers and guardians solely, when the kids they are responsible for are so poorly cared for.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli addresses the annual state conference of the LNP on Sunday. Picture: Tertius Pickard/NCA NewsWire

“This cannot go on. We won’t allow it to go on. Action is needed, so today we are taking action.

“Today I am putting repairing the child safety system on the agenda.

“The Labor government might not want to talk about it, but Queenslanders are living it.”

Mr Crisafulli also says he and LNP child safety spokeswoman Amanda Camm will soon host a forum at parliament on the issue, and he has written to the first tranche of child safety stakeholders.

“Together with the best minds we will chart a course designed to repair Queensland’s broken residential care system and start giving these kids a chance at a decent life,” he says. “Together, we must turn off the state-sanctioned pipeline of youth criminals.

“I know we have a very active LNP policy committee in this area and extend the invitation to the policy committee chair to assist us in developing the solutions for this difficult but important issue.

“This work will go hand-in-hand with our solutions that are already on the table for youth justice.”