David Crisafulli pledges tougher sentences to serve as deterrent to ‘young crims’

Juveniles offenders convicted of serious crimes in Queensland will face adult sentencing laws under an elected Liberal National Party government.

David Crisafulli announced the LNP’s “adult crime, adult time” policy at the Liberal National Party 2024 Convention in South Brisbane on Sunday. Picture: Richard Walker

Juveniles offenders convicted of serious crimes in Queensland will face adult sentencing laws under an elected Liberal National Party government.

Announcing the LNP’s “adult crime, adult time” policy, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said an elected LNP government would change laws to ensure youths committing murder, manslaughter, serious assault and home invasions would be sentenced as if they are adults.

In a speech to the annual LNP state convention, Mr Crisafulli said the tougher sentences would serve as a deterrent to “young crims” who received lighter sentences in the juvenile justice ­system.

He took aim at the third-term Labor government, now led by Steven Miles, saying it had weakened youth crime laws and “pursued a path of cuddling young criminals”.

“This generation of repeat untouchables must end,’’ he declared. “If you make the choice to commit adult crimes, you should know we have made the choice to ensure there are consequences for that behaviour.

“We will restore consequences for actions for young criminals – adult crime, adult time.”

Successive polls have shown youth crime is a major issue for Queensland voters, with a series of murders linked to juveniles in southeast Queensland in the past year and recidivist offending by teenagers in Townsville, Mount Isa and Cairns over the past few years.

Mr Crisafulli, who would commission a government review on how to implement the LNP sentencing policy, has been a critic of the Labor government’s “last-­resort” policy in jailing youth offenders convicted of crimes.

He said the LNP, which consecutive polls suggest is on track to win the October 26 state election, would also boost rehabilitation inside juvenile detention centres and introduce a mandatory 12-month supervision program for every juvenile released from detention.

“We can’t just release a young offender into society and allow them to carry on where they left off,’’ he said. “We’ll partner with the community sector to work with young people in detention … and there’ll be an intensive post-release supervision to keep them on the straight and narrow.

David Crisafulli at the LNP Liberal National Party 2024 Convention in South Brisbane. Picture: Richard Walker

“Currently, there are no organisations achieving success by doing this work; they tell us it’s an uphill battle, dealing with the government, to even get the individual details of the offender so they can properly supervise them.”

Mr Crisafulli said the government began to get tougher on youth crime last year only under pressure from the opposition and the community.

He mocked the Miles government’s latest advertising slogan of “doing what matters”.

“The state government says it’s doing what matters, but it didn’t do what mattered when it mattered,” he said.

Keith Hamburger, a former head of Queensland’s Corrective Services Department, said he was “optimistic about the policy”.

Former head of Queensland’s Corrective Services Department Keith Hamburger. Picture: Richard Walker

“I’ve got to see the whole policy on what the opposition are talking about but it does seem that they are looking at both ends of the problem, which is prevention, and also the sentencing,’’ he said.

Mr Hamburger said he didn’t believe longer sentences would act as deterrent but that some of the youth offenders needed to be jailed for the safety of the community and to receive treatment.

He said a lot of those youth “have got brain damage from foetal alcohol syndrome issues and they’re quite problematic and very dangerous people”.

“The community have to have faith in the law and if you kill somebody or cause serious injury to somebody, the community expects those people are going to be dealt with. And I support that, but what I want to see is that they are given appropriate treatment programs and housed in a humane way and treated in a humane way, as we do in a democratic society.

“We shouldn’t put kids in concrete cells and lock them up in 23 hours in solitary confinement; all you do is make worse criminals under the current system.’’

Mr Miles said the LNP policy was just a slogan. “This is just another slick, four-word slogan from David Crisafulli, it’s all we ever see from him: slogans and no substance,’’ he said.