‘I’m ready for them to come through my back window’: Newman’s youth fears

Campbell Newman has told how he fears more for his personal safety now than he did during the war with the bikies.

• Editor’s view: Home truths in state of fear

Former premier Campbell Newman has told how he fears more for his personal safety at home now than he did when he led the state and went to war with the bikies.

The former army major said he’s horrified by the rise of knife crime in Queensland which he said surpassed the fears he experienced during the crackdown on bikies in 2013 when he was threatened online and had his personal contact details shared on social media.

In a stunning interview for a Sky New youth crime special to air tonight, Mr Newman told investigations reporter Jonathan Lea he now locks his bedroom door every night out of fear.

“I never locked my door at night to my bedroom when the bikies were after me … I do now,” Mr Newman said.

“As premier, I went after criminal motorcycle gangs and threats were made against myself and my family.

“I’m more worried now about my personal safety and my family’s safety than I was back 10 years ago.

“That’s how bad it is, because the bikies never prowled around my neighbours’ homes and gardens.

“Only in the last two weeks we’ve had young teenagers prowling through neighbours’ properties. It’s been caught on camera.

“I’m ready for them to come through my back window one night.”

Former QLD premier Campbell Newman with security bars at his home in Windsor. pic Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Mr Newman, who led the state from 2012 to 2015, famously spearheaded a crackdown on motorcycle gangs during his term, with 26 bikie clubs including the Bandidos, the Mongols and the Hells Angels declared criminal organisations.

But his tough anti-bikie stance also spawned a spate of threats, including the circulating of the then-Premier’s home address and private phone number online, and activist group Anonymous warning in one viral video message to Mr Newman “we do not forgive, we do not forget”.

However, Mr Newman said it was the current level of knife-crime which had left him “horrified”, pointing to the recent alleged murder of David George Connolly, 43, in Wilston at the hands of a 17-year-old Burpengary boy.

“There was a stabbing and a murder only a kilometre as the crow flies from where we’re sitting right now,” he said.

“And only in the last two weeks we’ve had young teenagers prowling through neighbours properties.

“It’s been caught on camera.

“This crime wave is everywhere now, and this government has done nothing to deal with it.

“This government will fine everyday Queenslanders a thousand dollars or more for touching their phone in their car but they can’t, and won’t, keep you safe in your own home.

“That’s a complete misplaced set of priorities.”

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Instead Mr Newman – who is no longer a member of a political party – urged Annastacia Palaszczuk to “push back” against voices advocating for the “rights of these kid offenders”.

“This is a line in the sand now,” he said.

“Let’s ignore the Human Rights Commissioner, who is more concerned more about the rights of young crims than the safety of Queenslanders.

“We have to protect the community right now, we’ve got to protect people in their homes, their schools and their businesses.

“We have to put community safety at the forefront of everything we do. We’ve actually got to take control of the system for the interests of the community, putting it ahead of offenders.”

During the interview with Sky News, Mr Newman detailed what he thought could address the crime wave.

He brushed urged Ms Palaszczuk to “get rid of the people running the current (judiciary) system”, while adding the government has “blood on their hands” over years of youth justice failures.

“This government is totally and utterly responsible,” Mr Newman said.

“They’ve appointed the judges, the magistrates, they created the system, they created the laws, they appointed the bureaucrats — it’s their system, a system which is making Queenslanders feel afraid in their own homes.

“It’s time for real action, not for soft soap and contrived changes that they’ve put through the parliament recently.”

Mr Newman also advocated for youth offenders be signed up to community service or be sent off to “boot camps remote from our major population centres”.

“Where grown-ups can show them some tough love, get them involved in demanding activities, and provide a diversion to the misery they’re imposing on people in our cities and towns,” he said.

“There should be a strong element of community service.

“Young offenders who are going up that pathway towards more serious crime at an early stage, they should be required to undertake demanding community service to assist people, whether it be seniors, community groups, working on the environment.”

Watch Jonathan Lea’s special investigation “Youth Crime & Punishment” on Sky News, Sunday 7.30pm QLD / 8.30pm AEDT