Qld crime: Blank chequebook offered to fix Qld youth crime crisis

The Premier, Treasurer and a chorus of MPs are offering a blank chequebook to Queensland police in their bid to solve the state’s raging youth crime crisis, saying if they need more cash, it will be delivered.

• Police chief: How to solve youth crime crisis

Treasurer Cameron Dick and a chorus of MPs are promising an open chequebook to Queensland police to solve the state’s raging youth crime crisis.

In an extraordinary message and a veiled buck-passing to the state’s force, dozens of Labor MPs have declared if Queensland police say they need more cash to do their job it will be delivered.

Premier Steven Miles backed his MPs saying: “If we need to do more than we will do more”.

“I’ve consistently said that we will take the advice of the police and make sure they have the laws and the resources that they need,” he said.

WHAT THEY SAID: Every Labor MP’s opinion on the crime crisis

The Courier-Mail asked every state Labor MP this week whether the government was doing enough to combat crime, and whether their local constituents were raising crime as an issue.

While most backed the government’s record, a majority also urged police to ask for more help if they needed it to fight the scourge in their electorates – with crime threatening to derail Labor’s October re-election hopes.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Mr Dick said community safety and crime were among the issues raised with him – both in his seat of Woodridge, and across the state.

“If the QPS need more resources, we are always ready to provide them,” he said.

“Thanks to the 14 per cent increase to QPS funding in last year’s budget, we are now recruiting more police than ever before.”

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath told The Courier-Mail “I’ve listened to my community – everything police need in the toolbox, the Premier has stated we will provide them”.

“Whatever they need to keep our communities safe.”

Premier Steven Miles has faced extraordinary community pressure to take further action on crime following the horrific murder of Ipswich grandmother Vyleen White this week – allegedly at the hands of a 16-year-old out on bail.

Her death comes just months after Right to Information documents revealed how the government scrambled in the wake of the alleged murder of North Lakes mum Emma Lovell by teen criminals in late 2022 to come up with a youth justice plan.

Treasurer Cameron Dick. Picture, John Gass

As revealed by The Courier-Mail in October, text messages between Mr Miles show his Director-General Mike Kaiser lamenting “that’s almost everything in the cupboard” after being told what then-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was announcing to tackle youth crime.

Ms White’s family have also expressed their dissatisfaction with the Premier, with her daughter Cindy Micallef saying this week he should “step up or step out”.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll told staff on Friday she would “always provide frank and fearless advice to government” to ask for resources and law changes amid mounting pressure over how Queensland is dealing with the state’s youth crime crisis.

Ms Carroll also said: “we know that QPS is at the forefront of reducing youth offending, but we also know that arrests are only one part of the dealing with the issue”.

“It requires a significant holistic systems approach in partnership with all government agencies, so that the underlying social and health issues associated with youth offending can be addressed,” she wrote.

The Commissioner has asked the government to consider revisiting the use of GPS trackers for young offenders on bail, while police also want to see wanding powers expanded.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said the “government and police will never relent when it comes to supporting community safety”.

“We are always open to new approaches and strategies, as evidenced by our continued implementation of new and tougher laws and extra investments in specific police operations,” he said.

“Speaking more generally, the reality is that even one instance of crime is totally unacceptable. For every crime there is a victim and it can be traumatising.”

With two crucial by-elections next month and regional seats set to be targeted by the LNP, crime has become a major issue for a number of Labor seats.

New statistics this week revealed the number of young serious repeat offenders – who commit more than 55 per cent of crimes – has gone up since Ms Lovell died, and the government launched its 10-point youth justice plan.

But Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer insisted Queensland had “the strongest laws in the nation”.

“Queensland has more young people in detention than any other state or territory because our strong laws are working,” she said.

“The government will continue to throw everything at this and do whatever we can to keep our communities safe.”