NT Police Association president Paul McCue calls for urgent action on youth crime laws
The NT Police Association president has said recalling parliament back early to discuss youth crime laws is worth considering.
Northern Territory
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THE NT Police Association has backed a push by the opposition to recall parliament early, as the Territory’s youth crime crisis intensifies.
CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro on Monday called for an emergency meeting of MLPs to push through new youth bail laws, accusing the Labor government of dragging its feet on the issue.
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Ms Finocchiaro’s plea was met with a scathing response from the Chief Minister Michael Gunner, who insisted the legislation would be voted on in May.
The NT Police Association president Paul McCue on Tuesday told Mix 104.9 he was concerned about the budget distracting public attention away from the bail laws.
“Certainly from our perspectives, if there’s similarities (between the two parties’ legislation), we certainly support parliament being brought on early,” Mr McCue said.
“May obviously will be consumed with budget speak,” he said.
Mr McCue said officers were limited in how they could respond to youth crime due to legislation.
“It almost feels like their hands are tied in terms of being able to speak to a youth in relation to a crime.”
“We’ve very keen for government to consider it urgently.”
Deputy opposition leader Gerard Maley welcomed the comments, saying the CLP had legislation ready on youth crime and bail laws.
“The longer we wait, the more crime there is going to be and the more victims out there,” Mr Maley said.
“It’s really about time that the Gunner government start considering the victims of crime and not the offenders,” he said.
Mr Maley said MLPs from particularly regional areas were being inundated daily both directly and over social media with reports of crime.
“You’re talking about people getting broken into,” he said.
“We’ve already made some bail legislation which talks about reversing presumption for repeat offenders.”
Mr Maley also said youth offenders who were granted bail would be fitted with an electronic monitoring device.
The Chief Minister’s office has been contacted for comment.
When asked about Ms Finocchiaro’s push for an emergency session of parliament, Mr Gunner said on Monday youth crime legislation would be considered in May, alongside the budget.
“The opposition leader has a tendency to rush and to make mistakes to detail,” Mr Gunner said.
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“There’s no one quick fix or one silver bullet,” he said.
“We’ve gotta keep trying a lot of things and doing a lot of hard work.”
Mr Gunner said longer term approaches to break the generational cycle of crime were a focus of his government.
Recent reports of spikes in youth crime have been centred around Karama, Casuarina and regional and remote communities.
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