‘Adult time for adult crimes’: Youth crime protest descends on Queensland parliament

Families of Queenslanders allegedly killed at the hands of teens on bail have demanded harsher sentences for young criminals and the explicit removal of a legal principle that juveniles be detained as a last resort.

Queensland Premier Steven Miles speaks to crime victim Russell Field outside the state parliament during a Voice for Victims rally in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Families of Queenslanders allegedly killed at the hands of teen­agers out on bail have demanded harsher sentences for young criminals and the explicit removal of a legal principle that juveniles be detained as a last resort.

About 100 protesters from the Voice For Victims group rallied outside state parliament on Tuesday while Premier Steven Miles was announcing Labor’s new $1.28bn Community Safety Plan.

Murder victim Vyleen White’s daughter, Cindy Micallef, told the crowd the state’s Youth Justice Act was “imbalanced” and gave too much consideration to juveniles accused of crime.

White, 70, was killed in a brutal stabbing attack in front of her six-year-old granddaughter in February, allegedly at the hands of a 16-year-old boy who was free on bail for robbery at the time.

“We are asking for adult crime, adult time,” Ms Micallef said.

“Next weekend is going to be our first Mother’s Day without mum and that’s not supposed to happen, she was meant to be here.

“They’ve got to toughen these laws because at the moment, they’re on the side of the killers, not on our side.”

Russell Field, whose son, Matthew, was killed in a hit and run alongside his pregnant fiance Kate Leadbetter in 2021, said victims needed more support.

The teenager who killed the young couple, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter in 2022 and was jailed for 10 years, but will have to serve only six years of his sentence.

“Six years jail for killing three people … don’t know where the justice is in that,” Mr Field said.

“The victims get no help, the perpetrators get the help and that’s where it’s wrong and that’s what needs to change.”

Cindy Micallef, the daughter of murdered grandmother Vyleen White, during a Voice for Victims rally in Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Mr Miles said there were already provisions in the law for judges to impose adult sentences “when they deem that the crime is appropriate” and the government’s crime plan delivered an extra $16m in victim support.

“It’s our job as a government to keep Queenslanders safe, and that’s a responsibility that I take incredibly seriously,” he said.

New laws will be introduced to parliament on Wednesday, requiring judges to “prioritise community safety” when sentencing.

Government sources have said the changes would effectively override the principle that children should be detained in custody “only as a last resort”, but the LNP says the provision should be explicitly axed.

Mr Miles on Tuesday would not be drawn on the proposed changes or whether Labor made a mistake reintroducing detention as a last resort in 2016. “I am not going to get into what happened eight years ago,” he said.

Opposition leader David ­Crisafulli, who has pledged to axe detention as a last resort within two months of the election if the LNP wins government, said the 2016 changes had created a ­generation of offenders who “know their rights outweigh the rights of victims”.

“How hard is it for a government to say sorry and admit they got it wrong?” he told parliament.