State government denies making youth crime policy up on fly
The state government insists its youth policy was “considered, measured” despite texts and emails suggesting a chaotic bid to draft new laws and a sharp focus on political fallout amid the youth crime crisis.
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The state government insists its youth policy was “considered” and “measured” despite texts and emails suggesting a chaotic bid to draft new laws amid the youth crime crisis.
“Anyone who has one per cent of understanding about how government works knows that formulating policy positions takes time, it takes many months,” Police Minister Mark Ryan said on Sunday.
“I can tell you that certainly when it came to these proposals they were considered, they were measured, they were well thought through.
“Just remember that at the time of this announcement, the opposition were calling for parliament to be recalled immediately.
“They wanted the laws debated urgently. The government was considered and measured, went to consultation once the announcement was made and then went through a proper parliamentary process to ensure that the laws were implemented appropriately.”
His comments come after The Sunday Mail revealed texts and emails exchanged between senior staffers in the days following the alleged murder of mother Emma Lovell on Boxing Day 2022, released under Right to Information laws, showed both a chaotic bid to draft policy and a laser-like focus on political fallout.
They suggested the Government scrambled to draft policy on the run less than 15 minutes before Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk launched her flagship 10-point youth justice plan.
Mr Ryan said last-minute changes to a media release “doesn’t mean that the policy is not well considered”.
“There is a distinction here between writing the script and developing the story line,” he said.
“The policy was considered, it was measured.
“Yes there were last-minute changes to a media release but that doesn’t mean that the policy was anything other than considered and measured.”
Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard on Sunday said the last-minute issues raised related to a media release and not the “measured process” the government went through.
When asked if it was “frantic and chaotic behind the scenes” given staff questioned the legality of the wording about youth justice reform programs, requesting changes just minutes before a press conference, Ms Linard said the changes were about “proofreading” a media release.
“Media advisors draft released but they need to go through appropriate policy and legal experts to ensure that the words there don’t have different meaning,” she said.
“A change or a correction to a media release is not reflective of the considered process that we went through, the measured process we went through.
“There is some significant amendments, amendments that Queenslanders have called for and we have instituted,” she said.
“The communication that was there was for a media advisor wanting to have something fact checked by the department who are policy and legal experts.
“Things were cement. We had made a decision as a government about what we were doing and what was to be announced that day, the actual media release that we publicly released was a reflection of decisions that had been made.
“I think it is important to be clear here, it wasn’t a change of decision it was ensuring that a public-facing document correctly reflected decisions that had been made.”
OVERNIGHT
The state government has been exposed scrambling to draft policy on the run less than fifteen minutes before Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk launched her flagship 10-point youth justice plan.
Texts and emails exchanged between senior staffers in the days following the alleged murder of mother Emma Lovell on Boxing Day 2022 released under Right to Information laws reveal both a chaotic bid to draft policy and a laser-like focus on political fallout.
As the government attempted to put on a tough face to deal with the youth crime crisis, privately a staffer was amending policy minutes before it was announced, citing concerns the tough measure had “implications for staffing” at detention centres and “possibly” wasn’t legal.
Other exchanges reveal how staffers were assessing policy in the prism of how Opposition Leader David Crisafulli had responded to the crisis.
One message from a senior Premier’s staffer noted: “Crisafulli says ‘nothing short of a strengthening of the youth justices act will cut it in the eyes of Qlders’ … Makes those lines about locking up for longer more useful. Don’t talk about specific work already underway … we would be attacked for not acting sooner.”
Also uncovered was an email with the subject “Draft LNP attack lines” sent to Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard as she prepared to publicly address the youth crime crisis in the wake of Ms Lovell’s alleged murder, advising her to use the statement: “I didn’t and do not intend to make Emma Lovell’s tragic death into a political issue”.
The email – sent on December 28th two days after Ms Lovell died – also said “the community does not want politics; they want action”, as well as lines including “the LNP are yet to come up with a plan”.
The Palaszczuk government faced intense pressure to respond to the tragedy, with the Premier fronting the media on December 29th – three days after Ms Lovell’s death allegedly at the hands of two teenage criminals – to announce new youth crime penalties, which she was then forced to deny were a “kneejerk response”.
But an email from Leanne Linard’s media advisor sent that same day at 10.32am – just 13 minutes before the scheduled 10.45am media conference – to the Premier’s media team warns of the need to urgently delete a drafted line.
“Please note the line: young offenders will be required to remain in custody until they have completed requisite rehabilitation and reformed programs set out by the courts,” the email reads.
“Needs to be deleted from all speaking points and the media release. It has implications for staffing at the detention centers and (possibly) isn’t legal to hold young people beyond their allocated sentence period”.
A text message sent by the same staff member two minutes later – 11 minutes before the Premier’s announcement – issues the same instruction to the Police Minster Mark Ryan’s advisor.
On the advice of a Premier staffer, it was ultimately changed to the more vague “young offenders will be in custody for longer to make sure they can complete requisite rehabilitation and reform programs set out by the courts”.
Neither the original or that amended wording appeared in the Palaszczuk government’s new youth justice legislation when it was tabled as parliament returned in February.
Ms Linard also raised concerns about the inclusion of requiring compulsory participation in programs before release, emailing in response to seeing a preview of the Premier’s speaking points on that morning “that is factually wrong and needs to be checked by department”.
The internal documents show Ministerial staff began preparing to address questions on Ms Lovell’s death and the youth crime crisis on the morning of December 27, with back-and-forth exchanges over which Minister would be required to front the media.
Talking points were prepared for Housing Minister Leeanne Enoch – who had a prearranged media appearance scheduled for that day – but it was later determined Ms Linard would attend a press conference along with police.
These included statements regarding breach of bail, with a line saying “but let’s be very clear – introducing breach of bail as an offence will do nothing to deter youth crime”.
But the state government just two months later sensationally backflipped on breach of bail – adding the offence at the last minute ahead of introducing their new youth crime laws to parliament in February.
Ministerial diaries show Ms Palaszczuk attended the opening of the Woodford Folk Festival on the 27th – the day after Ms Lovell’s death – and on the 28th held a meeting with the executive director of the festival and attended a Bob Hawke memorial dinner that night.
The following day – before the press conference to announce the laws – she attended a pre-brief meeting with Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, Department of Premier and Cabinet Acting Director-General Mike Kaiser, Mr Ryan and Ms Linard.
While the Premier didn’t face media questions for several days after the tragedy, the released exchanges clearly outline the Premier’s office was immediately heavily involved in managing the public response.
Police Minister Mark Ryan rejects claims Palaszczuk government divided on issue of youth crime
Other drafts of talking points shared between a senior media advisor to the Premier to Ms Linard’s office ahead of the press conference recommended she begin with “acknowledgment/condolences” to Ms Lovell’s family.
The text of talking points also includes “deferral sentences” for the Minister to use in response to media questions, which included “that will remain subject to investigation …”, “as we are still in the early stages of the investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment … “, and “really appreciate you coming down today, as you can understand I need to get back. Thanks again”.
After the press conference the Premier’s advisor asked Ms Linard’s staffer “how did it go?”, with the staffer responding “Good. The police answered the bill (sic) of the questions and our minister stuck to her key lines”.
A text message from a senior Premier advisor to Ms Linard’s advisor also says “don’t talk about specific work already underway … we would be attacked for not acting sooner”.
Questioned on Saturday about the government’s ten-point plan, Ms Linard denied it was rushed or policy on the fly.
“What it was listening to community and they said that they wanted to see more,” she said.
“And we have a Premier and a government that always listens and acts.
“Many of those things were things that may have already been ongoing conversations that we brought forward. Some were new.”
When asked what consultation was done before the plan was announced, Ms Linard said: “Consultation is always ongoing.”
A Palaszczuk government spokesman told the Sunday Mail the death of Ms Lovell was a tragic event that demanded swift action.
“The suite of measures announced in the immediate aftermath included some that were already under consideration, such as a trial of engine immobilisers, which was made clear during the press conference,” he said.
“All measures are informed by expert advice and complement previously announced measured to crackdown on youth crime, address the complex causes of crime and support victims of crime.”
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said Queenslanders would be shocked by the “jaw-dropping chaos”.
“The Premier’s announcement was cobbled-together to create a media band-aid instead of delivering the genuine reforms Queenslanders were crying out for,” he said.
“Is it any wonder the Premier adopted the LNP’s breach of bail policy word for word at the 11th hour because they had run out of ideas to fix the crime crisis they created?”
Shadow Attorney-General Tim Nicholls claimed the new crime laws were designed for the Premier’s “media management”.
“For the Palaszczuk Labor government to be scrambling on a key policy just 15 minutes before the Premier’s media announcement stinks of an administration that is running on empty,” he said.
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