Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer promises crackdown on ‘hard nut’ offenders

Di Farmer has promised a ‘laser focus’ as she returns to the youth justice portfolio, saying she will target ‘hard nut’ offenders amid widespread community concern.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer has declared she will have a laser focus on improving community safety by cracking the “hard nut” offenders.

Annastacia Palaszczuk handed the portfolio back to Ms Farmer in an attempt from the Premier to portray a tough-on-youth-crime stance to ease widespread concern in the community.

She said her primary focus will be drilling down on the 17 per cent committing the bulk of the crimes, who she described as the “serious offenders”.

Di Farmer during the swearing-in ceremony at Government House. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

“These are the hard nuts to crack,” Ms Farmer said, who served in the portfolio between 2017 and 2020.

“My efforts are going to have a laser focus on addressing those serious young people so that the community can feel safe and can feel confident.”

The freshly sworn-in Youth Justice Minister said she planned to conduct an immediate audit of the government’s suite of policies and was willing to ditch approaches not up to scratch.

“We need to be looking at all of the programs that we have and making sure that they work,” Ms Farmer said.

“I actually feel really passionate about this portfolio – I feel passionate about making a difference (and) about not seeing those young people in the system again.

“(But) I feel really passionately about making sure you can live your daily life and be free of fear and be confident that you can go about your life and your family’s safe.”