Courts and parents need to ‘take responsibility’: Police Union boss Ian Leavers

Queensland’s police union boss has called for parents of youth offenders to be stripped of welfare payments while calling for the courts to “take responsibility”. WHAT DO YOU THINK? TAKE OUR POLL

QUEENSLAND’S police union boss has called for parents of youth offenders to be stripped of welfare payments while claiming the courts needed to “take responsibility”.

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It comes after members of a notorious Brisbane gang took to social media to gloat about stealing a Brisbane AFL player’s luxury car.

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers told Sunrise this morning that police had had enough and “we just need other people to start doing their jobs and that is the judiciary as well as the parents of these young offenders”.

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“The courts need to step up and actually do their job and ensure these recidivist offenders receive terms of imprisonment to protect the community,” he said.

“Parents really have to have a vital role in ensuring their kids do the right things.

“If we need to cut welfare payments to make them act well so be it because nothing else is working and parents have got to step up and take responsibility as have the courts.”

Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers. Picture: AAP Image/Claudia Baxter

The State Opposition touted a similar idea ahead of the 2017 election, committing to holding parents of young offenders in Townsville accountable by stripping welfare payments when their children were in youth detention.