Premier talks tough on youth crime

Adult crime, adult time laws are on the table as Premier Jeremy Rockliff says his government is serious about addressing claims of “out of control” crime in the Glenorchy area.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Premier Jeremy Rockliff says his government is serious about addressing claims of “out of control” crime in the Glenorchy area.

Mr Rockliff said he would meet Police Commissioner Donna Adams and Minister for Police and Emergency Services Felix Ellis on Tuesday to discuss community concerns.

“I’m meeting with the Police Minister and the Police Commissioner tomorrow, we take this very seriously,” he said after a handful of well-publicised incidents.

“We will take action.

“The number one agenda item is community safety, and we cannot afford to have people too scared to go and do their shopping in their local area.

“We need safer communities and an increased police presence is one of those actions of which we are committing to.”

Mr Rockliff said “all options were on the table” including Adult Crime, Adult Time laws.

“It’s important to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, which is why we need to take action,” he said.

Local independent MLC Bec Thomas told ABC radio she was concerned.

Independent member for Elwick, Bec Thomas concerned over youth crime. Picture: Linda Higginson

“I will not stop jumping up and down about this until we see urgent action to keep our community safe right now,” she said.

“We are seeing levels of violence we have not seen before including on innocent people and also on groups of young people on groups of other young people like we have never seen before.”

She said crime in the areas was “out of control” in a way she had not seen before.

The total number of offences reported in the Glenorchy municipality was up from 374 in April 2024 to 444 in last month.

That spike defied a generally declining trend that sat below the long-term average over the year, according to the latest available Tasmania Police data.

The total number of public order incidents in Glenorchy rose slightly from 228 in April 2024 to 254 in March this year.

The number of public place assaults reported has varied from five in March last year, peaking at 16 in August and were down to 10 in March.

Statewide, monthly youth crime figures showed a declining trend over the last 12 months, with the number of offenders at 237 in March compared with 284 recorded 12 months ago and 393 in September.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show the number of youth crime offenders in Tasmania was down around 24 per cent in 2023-24 compared with the figures recorded decade before and down 61 per cent on 2008/09 figures.

Public order offences committed by youth are down 90 per cent since 2008/09, the ABS figures show.

Labor’s shadow Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Management Jen Butler described the government’s response as a “Band-Aid solution”.

“At the same time youth crime is rising, the minority Rockliff Government is cutting the resources police have to deal with it while also cancelling early intervention programs for young people at risk of crime related activities.

“The Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management will be required to find $35 million of cuts over the next four years and is budgeting to spend $12m less on staff than they actually spent last year. That’s the equivalent of 100 police officers.”

Originally published as Premier talks tough on youth crime