The editor: Time for Qld judiciary to make sure ‘adult crime, adult time’ works

The LNP was elected because of policies aimed at reducing juvenile crime – but they need to be backed up, writes the editor.

The LNP was elected to tackle youth crime.

The newly installed State Government was elected for a variety of reasons but, incontestably, the LNP’s policies aimed at reducing juvenile crime provided the principal updraft elevating the party into office.

It is, therefore, a reasonable expectation that the Queensland judiciary will play its part in enforcing the LNP’s new legal regime in our courtrooms.

Yet there are clear signs that there are magistrates who have their own view on who, and who should not, be allowed inside the rooms where justice is dispensed.

A key policy in the LNP’s pitch to voters was greater media and public access to the Children’s Court.

Then Opposition leader David Crisafulli pursued this policy vigorously, to the point where the Labor administration made its own concessions mid-way through this year and allowed more open access to courtrooms.

The LNP went hard on youth crime.

Yet Labor’s laws still allowed judges to use a clause allowing them to exclude the media if they believed the media’s presence could prejudice the case, or risk the safety of those involved.

Magistrate Anne Thacker clearly had that in mind when she barred the media (after a request was made by the child’s barrister) from the Children’s Court last month in a case involving a teenager.

The 16-year-old defendant was allegedly driving an Audi he had allegedly stolen at gunpoint before it crashed into a grandmother, 69-year-old Rosemary Franzidis.

Rosemary was driving home from Church when she died in the collision.

On December 5 journalists were again sent out of the courtroom by Magistrate Thacker during a murder committal despite the accused child’s own barrister saying she couldn’t point to specific grounds to exclude journalists as the legislation currently requires.

The LNP’s ongoing legislative program related to youth crime will ensure the clause to ban media from Children’s Court, along with victims and their representatives and relatives, will soon be ditched.

Meanwhile, it is clear some magistrates will cling to habits of the old regime until the new one is installed

Magistrates are well remunerated, with Magistrate Thacker alone set to soon receive a substantial pay rise from around $393,000 a year to $407,000.

It’s a generous salary for a worthy and responsible position, and well-earned when its recipient understands the role of parliament is to make the laws, and the role of the judiciary is to apply them.

Youth crime remains a challenge in Queensland.

Time to celebrate our Trent

Queenslanders will rejoice in the extraordinary achievement of our own literary boy wonder, Trent Dalton, as the television version of his magical novel Boy Swallows Universe dominates the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.

The AACTA Awards presented by Foxtel Group, and returning to the Gold Coast in February, celebrate the finest achievements in Australian film, television, documentary, and online content.

In the television category, the critically acclaimed series Boy Swallows Universe dominates with 22 nominations, including Best Miniseries along with eight acting nominations, the most nominations for any production in AACTA history.

Dalton, a long-term New Corp writer who cut in his journalistic teeth in our Bowen Hills newsrooms, has written about life from myriad angles, from suburban love stories to drugs, crime, death and betrayal, all the way to the adventures of 18th Century explorer James Cook, roaming the southern oceans of the world.

Trent Dalton at the premiere of Boy Swallows Universe in January 2024. Picture: Josh Woning

Yet, as Dalton says himself, his extraordinary novel which was essentially the story of his own family and, in particular, his mother, remains the most gut-wrenching story he has ever told.

In his own words: “I’m often reminded by my gut, that kicks from the inside sometimes, how my own mother’s life story remains the most harrowing story I’ve ever had the strange and often unsettling honour of being a significant part of.’’

As Dalton also says, all the key characters in Boy Swallows Universe were essentially his family, “the most beautiful and complex people I’ve ever known.’’

He was determined to turn all the crazy, sad, tragic and beautiful things he had seen in his childhood into a crazy, sad, tragic and beautiful story.

He succeeded, with the novel selling over one million copies and it, and other Dalton works, becoming the recipient of countless awards.

The Dalton family endures into another generation.

And Dalton’s mum, the inspiration for the troubled character Frankie Bell in his book, is still very much part of his life.

She is no doubt deeply proud, as is the rest of the state, of this still youthful and affable man who can draw so much joy and inspiration out of so much pain and loss.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as The editor: Time for Qld judiciary to make sure ‘adult crime, adult time’ works