Nothing to giggle about, Premier
But as Michael McKenna and Mackenzie Scott have revealed, the 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed Ms White in the chest was out on bail for armed robbery.
Police opposed bail for the youth late last year, sources have told The Australian, but he was released nonetheless.
Recidivist offending by youths stealing cars and breaking into homes is a growing political problem for the Queensland government. Mr Miles, unfortunately, remains staunchly opposed to reforming youth crime laws, which provide that children should be detained only as a last resort. Such a change would not work and be dangerous, expensive and see thousands more young people locked up, he says.
But legislation needs to be geared to the real world. And the situation in Queensland, regrettably, is that the number of charges finalised against child defendants grew by 16 per cent last year to more than 43,000. Children’s Court figures also show that the number of hardcore recidivist juveniles grew from 568 to 652 last year.
There is no point in the government blaming liberal magistrates and judges whose idea of social justice is keeping young people out of jail at all costs. Labor appointed the vast majority of them.
After abhorrent crimes committed by minors, the government failed to do enough to strengthen its laws. In 2021, it moved to deny repeat juvenile offenders the presumption of bail after a Brisbane couple and their unborn child died when they were hit by a stolen car, driven by a 17-year-old who lost control of the vehicle. And a year ago, it reintroduced breach-of-bail penalties for juvenile offenders after the stabbing murder of Emma Lovell on Boxing Day in 2022. Lovell died after allegedly being stabbed by two teen home invaders in her front yard after she and her husband defended their home at North Lakes, north of Brisbane. As Townsville Labor mayor Jenny Hill told a parliamentary committee this week, dumping detention as a last-resort provision – a policy that is advocated by the Liberal National opposition – would “remove one avenue magistrates and judges use to avoid issuing sentences commensurate with public expectation”.
Getting airborne with defence
After decades of bipartisan neglect of the national defence, Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech was as refreshing as it was relevant.
Voters should demand a high-energy campaign
Whoever wins the May 3 federal election, the result will have a profound impact on the nation’s future that extends well beyond the next term of government.
Apart from three years, Labor has been in power in Queensland for a quarter of a century. That is why Premier Steven Miles cannot wash his hands of responsibility for rampant youth crime in the state. After grinning and giggling when asked about the matter on Tuesday, Mr Miles claimed it was unfair to say the murder of 70-year-old grandmother Vyleen White in the carpark of a busy Redbank Plains shopping centre west of Brisbane on Saturday evening in front of her six-year-old granddaughter could have been prevented.