Young criminals face adult sentences for serious crimes after controversial laws pass Queensland parliament

Premier David Crisafulli’s promised ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws have exposed a deep divisions inside Queensland Labor about the treatment of hardcore young offenders.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli meets families of victims of crime at parliament in Brisbane. Picture: supplied

Premier David Crisafulli’s promised “adult crime, adult time” laws have exposed a deep divisions inside Queensland Labor about the treatment of hardcore young offenders with backbencher Jonty Bush threatening to quit the party.

Passed on the final parliamentary sitting day of the year, the laws were the marquee commitment of the Liberal National Party at October’s state election and will mandate that juveniles who commit crimes such as murder, manslaughter and home invasions are sentenced as adults.

Labor MPs have been divided about whether to support harsher sentences for young criminals. Some Labor MPs have told The Australian they were concerned about the optics in regional Queensland if they voted against the LNP’s laws, acknowledging the parliament was given a mandate to pass them at the state election.

Others are fundamentally against the laws that could see children as young as 10 jailed for life if they commit murder, describing them as a “betrayal” of party values.

Opposition Leader Steven Miles told parliament Labor would “not stand in the way” of adult crime, adult time, but wanted to implement a mandatory review of the laws after 18 months to assess any unintended consequences. All Labor MPs voted to pass the laws on Thursday night.

At a tense emergency meeting of Labor MPs at lunchtime on Thursday, held to lockdown the Opposition’s position, Ms Bush threatened to quit the party.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Ms Bush said she was “obviously feeling pretty difficult” about the legislation.

“I am a member of the Labor Party and I am going to back in our team today but I won’t forget that I am a member of the Labor Party and we have a long, strong and proud history of doing what is right, sticking to our values and protecting victims’ rights and never giving up on the children and young people of Queensland.

“That is my position today and I will be taking some time to think obviously about my future.”

Asked if she wanted to remain in the ALP, Ms Bush said: “That is probably it for now”, before walking away.

The LNP successfully targeted Labor ahead of the October state election over its 2016 decision to reintroduce the legal provision that children should be detained in custody “only as a last resort and for the least time that is justified in the circumstances”.

Speaking with high-profile crime victims ahead of the vote, Mr Crisafulli said he believed reforms would reduce victim numbers across the state.

“This has always been about victims, and Queensland’s voters change, and victims drove that change, and today we deliver on our promise to ensure that change happens by Christmas.

“It’s about laws to ensure there are fewer victims, and we’re delivering what we said we would do.”

New Liberal National Party backbencher Russell Field, whose son, Matthew, was killed in a hit and run alongside his pregnant fiance Kate Leadbetter in 2021, said he was “honoured” to have been able to vote on the landmark legislation.

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.

Mr Field told parliament that his family had been failed by the previous Labor government’s “revolving door” youth justice system.

“Across Queensland, families have been shattered, lives irreparably changed and communities torn apart by the rampant youth crime crisis in this state. These are not just numbers rapidly increasing on a sheet; these are people — real people.”

While welcomed by crime victims, the legislation has been widely panned by legal experts and youth advocates that have warned an overly-punitive approach to youth justice would not reduce crime.

At a valedictory ceremony earlier this week, retiring district court judge Alexander Horneman-Wren said: “If we as a caring, humane and responsible society do not address the underlying societal issues that lead to offending, no slogan-based solution will ever prove effective”.

The Queensland Bar Association has also savaged the legislation with president Cate Heyworth-Smith recently warning the “profound” changes would make Queensland an outlier to other states and strip judges of their discretion when sentencing.