Government under fire over youth crime data delay as Townsville residents ‘live in fear’

LNP Thuringowa candidate Natalie Marr has accused the state government of ‘hiding’ critical youth crime data while victims of crime in Townsville are being forced to hide in their homes.

LNP Thuringowa candidate Natalie Marr has accused the state government of ‘hiding’ critical youth crime data while victims of crime in Townsville are being forced to hide in their homes.

Speaking at Strand Park, Ms Marr said on Monday she believes residents in Townsville would lose faith in the Labor Government after they failed to release youth crime data on time.

“When I have residents in suburbs like Kirwan hiding in their homes for fear of the crime in our city … here we have a government that is hiding data,” she said.

The Palaszczuk Government promised last February to release data — including youth criminal reoffending rates, the rate of Indigenous children in detention; and the proportion of serious repeat offenders — every six months.

One year on, only the number of Indigenous children in detention data has been published, but Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said the rest would be released on Monday.

LNP Candidate for Thuringowa Natalie Marr and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, at a news conference at Strand Park, Townsville, on February 26. Picture: Natasha Emeck

She said they initially committed to releasing the youth justice KPIs every six months but were now moving to a quarterly data release model.

LNP leader David Crisafulli said they had broken a promise by not releasing the data within six months.

A joint campaign by all Queensland’s daily newspapers last year saw Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her government commit releasing critical youth crime statistics every six months.

He accused the government of simply “masquerading” to care about youth crime and said more also needed to be done to address the state’s “failing” resi-care system.

It comes after the state government recently announced they will aim to halve the number of children in residential care within five years.

“When I see some of the kids in resi care are having multiple interactions with youth justice, that tells me that the state is failing in its responsibility to be a good parent,” Mr Crisafulli said.

“I spoke with a carer a couple of months ago and he said it’s very difficult for a young person to feel loved.

“When there’s a different set of eyes looking at them every night as the one that picks them up in the morning, the one that’s there on the weekend.

“That really struck a chord with me.” 

Originally published as Government under fire over youth crime data delay as Townsville residents ‘live in fear’