Queensland Premier Steven Miles leaves door open to axing detention as ‘last resort’ for teen crims
The LNP has launched a major television and social media advertising campaign, targeting Labor over its 2016 decision to reintroduce a ‘last resort’ legal provision on children in custody.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles has left the door open to removing detention “as a last resort” for young offenders after the Liberal National Party pledged to axe the controversial sentencing principle in its first two months of government if it wins the October state election.
The LNP has launched a television and social media advertising campaign, targeting Labor over its 2016 decision to reintroduce a legal a provision that children should be detained in custody “only as a last resort and for the least time that is justified in the circumstances”.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has argued the decision to “water down” youth justice laws had created a generation of hardcore repeat offenders whose rights were being prioritised over victims.
“Removing detention as a last resort will be the first action of an LNP government,” the LNP leader said on Monday. “After nearly a decade, it’s clear Labor has the wrong priorities and they’re out of ideas to fix the youth crime crisis they created.”
Mr Miles had emphatically rejected removing detention as a last resort last month, saying it would be “dangerous”, expensive and ineffective – but on Monday said he would “consider” doing so if it was recommended by the parliament’s youth justice select committee.
“That’s certainly not our intention, but we have a select committee at the moment so we will see what they recommend,” he said. “We will consider whatever they recommend.”
The bipartisan committee, chaired by independent MP Sandy Bolton, has held public hearings since November and will deliver an interim report to the government next month.
Mr Miles has promised new laws by mid-year to expand media access to youth crime court proceedings and give police greater powers to stop and search children for knives.
The latest Newspoll shows Queenslanders rank crime as their top vote-deciding issue after the cost of living.
Meanwhile, Mr Crisafulli will travel to Queensland’s youth crime “capital” of Townsville on Tuesday to announce more details of his proposed Making Queenslander Safer laws, which would include the removal of detention as a last resort.
Under the LNP plan, judges would give more weight to the impact a crime has had on a victim when sentencing offenders.
Crime victims would also be given updates on how their cases were progressing through court, and rules that block victims and their families from attending hearings would be removed. “Victims should not be left wondering if their offenders have faced consequences for their actions and their rights shouldn’t be left to be the last consideration,” Mr Crisafulli said.
The latest Children’s Court of Queensland figures show the number of charges finalised against child defendants last year grew by 16 per cent.
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