Youth Justice Reform Select Committee held in Rockhampton

“Everyone is afraid in their homes at night” and police are “busting their balls” to catch young crims only for there to be no consequences, fed up residents have told the latest Youth Justice Reform hearing at Rockhampton.

Brad Neven held back tears as he shared his experience with youth crime, telling a panel of politicians he felt helpless and his wife wanted to sell up and move from their hometown.

He was among a crowd of 50 people who attended the Rockhampton hearing of the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee on February 27.

The hearing included an open to floor session which allowed community members the chance to speak to the independent panel of Queensland MPs including Rockhampton’s Barry O’Rourke.

Mr Neven, who was previously vocal on social media in April 2023 when his motorbike, keys to three cars and wallet were stolen at his Yeppoon home by a group of five people, told the hearing “I’ll paint a picture, 6.30 in the morning, everyone is home, people in showers, got it all on video, five people break into your home, go into rooms where people are asleep, grabbing car keys, wallets, phones”.

“They are a bit brazen about it, no fear, it’s a very busy street, people out walking dogs,” he explained.

“There is just no fear of consequence for them.”

CQ man Brad Neven says he feels helpless and doesn't know what do in the wake of being a victim of crime.

Midway through his speech, a visibly emotional Mr Neven had to stop and pause and described the impact of the crime.

“My wife wants to sell the house, I can’t live here, don’t speak up, don’t say anything,” he said.

“Fear … don’t speak up because they will see you speak up on social media and they will target you … what are you supposed to do?”

While he commended police for their efforts, Mr Neven said they were under-resourced and claimed there needed to be harsher consequences for offenders.

“They don’t have the resources to sit outside and do surveillance on a 15-year-old kid who is just going home,” he said.

“They are out there trying to track down more serious criminals.

“The poor old coppers, they bust their balls to track down these kids …. there doesn’t appear to be any consequences they are afraid of.

“In fact if (they) get caught it’s a badge of honour.

Mr Neven flagged police being ordered to disengage and powerless to pursue young criminals on grounds of not putting the public at risk as being an example of policy failure.

“Well guess what? There are people dying anyway, the innocent are dying from these crimes already when police can’t do their job, they are trained, competent and authorised to intervene and chase down these criminals.”

Mr Neven also criticised the length of time it had taken to get youth crime under control.

“It’s just rubbish, the more you kind of look into the problem, it will be harder to solve but the bottom line is, action consequence and maybe that action consequence needs a bit of a tweak,” he said.

The panel and crowd at the Rockhampton hearing of the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee.

“It needs to be a bipartisan approach by both governments to get to the root cause and put in real consequences for these individuals otherwise we will just be here in three years' time having the same conversation.”

Another Rockhampton business owner, who wished not to be named for fear of being a target again, shared her story of a ram-raid at her business last year.

The owner said it cost $20,000 and still, no charges had been laid.

Other speakers included Jessie Conway from Our Space in Stockland Rockhampton which works to connect with disengaged youth, funded by community grants and Stockland.

She shared how her team had great success but only had two part-time staff and had struggled to get funding to be able to do more.

Other speakers included Aunty Esme and Aunty Delilah from Yoombooda Ngujeena Rockhampton Aboriginal and Islander Community Justice Panel, who work with the Murri Court held at Rockhampton Courthouse.

Aunty Esme said the biggest struggle was getting kids to take their matters “seriously” and attend court.

Aunty Delilah a family centred approach and early intervention would be key going forward.

“It’s going to take time in Rockhampton and there is some urgency because when everyone is afraid in their homes at night …” she said.

“But we can’t lose sight of what needs to be done so we can turn the dial and do some real work.

“It’s about keeping our young ones out of prison, detention, there’s too many in the systems now.

“We need their families involved, their caregivers, the people who have the most positive influence in the family.”

Independent MP for Noosa and chair of the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee Sandy Bolton spoke to the media ahead of the Rockhampton hearing.

The committee plans to hand in an interim report with recommendations on March 28.

“This journey since late October has been collating from submissions, public hearings, what needs to be done, where are the gaps, so far we have identified a number,” she said.

“The importance here at Rocky today is to actually tease those out.

“The aim is to get bipartisan support for those recommendations, regardless of which government is in power, that they will commit that.”

Among the issues identified was that detention wasn’t “working”, Ms Bolton said.

“The high rate of recidivism, going into detention, coming back out and reoffending straight away, that has been a very common theme … that needs to change and there needs to be the proper support and pathways, not only out of detention, into work, education.”

Other priority areas identified by the committee included improving support for victims of crime and confidence in the youth justice system, the need for a long-term youth justice strategy, better early assessment, intervention and prevention and re-imagining youth justice infrastructure.