QLD premier David Crisafulli visits Townsville after the Make Queensland Safer Laws pass
Queensland’s premier David Crisafulli stood up in Townsville on Friday following the passing of the Make Queensland Safer Laws. See what youth crime victims think about the new changes.
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Queensland’s new crime laws, which will see children who have committed serious crimes spend more time behind bars have been welcomed by proponents in Townsville, with one army veteran throwing her support behind the bill after a repeat youth offender broke into her family home and stole her car.
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli chose to spend the day in Townsville following the passing of the Making Queensland Safer Laws, which he said “sends a clear message” to the city.
“I want to let Queenslanders know we understand what the youth crime crisis is doing to the fabric of communities. This was about victims,” Mr Crisafulli said.
“We want police to have the resources and the laws to do their job. We want Queenslanders to feel safe in their homes and their businesses and we want youth criminals to understand that the days of their rights being greater than the rights of the victim are a thing of the past.”
One victim of youth crime, Jillian Joyce, who told a parliamentary committee earlier in the month she felt safer sleeping in conflict zones during her army career than she did in her own home, said she felt justice couldn’t be carried out sufficiently after her home was invaded and property stolen.
“I felt let down by the fact that this child … was so known to the system and was a constant reoffender and yet was still able to enter my home and (steal from me),” she said.
“I’m not going to say it’s the police or the prosecutors or the people I feel let down by, but the environment and the boundaries in which they were able to execute their job.
“I couldn’t criticise the police, they were excellent and they did everything they could, I just felt let down by the framework.”
The new laws will also have an increased focus on rehabilitation for youth offenders while they are in jail and following their release.
The former army officer said she understands many of these children grow up disadvantaged, but that does not minimise the damage they are causing to peoples lives.
“I am really compassionate to the situation of a lot of these offenders, their home lives are not what my kids get and we need to invest in them,” Ms Joyce said.
“But at some point choices are made and in my case where my car was stolen the choice to drive past my house the next morning, beeping the horn and doing burnouts in front of my house, that’s a choice to cause pain and hurt and that’s different to being out on the streets because it’s safer than their homes or whatever it might be.”
Mr Crisafulli said the LNP government is working to increase resources within the Queensland court and corrective systems to limit the negative impact an increased number of trials caused by these laws may have on the judicial system.
“We’re going to strengthen the department of prosecutions. We’re working overtime to deliver more corrective services,” he said.
“We’re delivering a circuit breaker program, which is those rural sentencing options. We’re committed to making sure that we have capacity, we’re also equally committed to early intervention.”
The premier said the government will look to expand on the laws with the focus now shifting to “dealing with the child sex offender register”.
“There will be further changes needed to this act and we are determined to make sure we have the best Youth Justice Act in the country.”
During the week, as the laws were debated in parliament, opposition leader Steven Miles said that Labor would not stand in the way of the laws being introduced, despite a bruising backroom battle within the Labor ranks.
However, he warned that there could be ‘unintended consequences’ of the laws.
“We as an opposition will not stand in the way of the Crisafulli government implementing their adult crime, adult time policy before Christmas,” he said.
“It is clear from stakeholders that there may be a number of unintended consequences due to the short window for review and consultation, unintended consequences that could be borne by the people we should be putting first, victims of crime.”
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Originally published as QLD premier David Crisafulli visits Townsville after the Make Queensland Safer Laws pass
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