Deputy doubles down on youth justice package in works ‘for some time’

Deputy Premier Steven Miles has doubled down on his leader’s defence of a controversial new suite of changes to the Queensland youth justice system, while suggesting they had been in the works for months.

Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed the package on Tuesday, including changes to court operations, sentencing and a second new youth prison, saying many people would not “like” the changes but community safety was “paramount”.

The announcement follows the alleged home invasion resulting in the death of North Lakes mother Emma Lovell, set to be remembered in a community vigil on Friday night, and calls from her husband and beyond for mandatory jail time for repeat violent home invaders.

However, experts, justice reform advocates and prison abolitionists have labelled the government’s plans a “knee-jerk” reaction to a tragic event which would only entrench existing problems.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Miles said there had been a “call from the community to see more action this week”.

“That package had been ... being worked on for some time, and there was an opportunity for us to outline those new actions this week in the context of very high community interest,” he said.

Miles said he could not say whether the announcement would have been made on Thursday had the Boxing Day tragedy not unfolded, “but it would have been certainly made very early [next] year”.

In a later press conference, Deputy Opposition Leader Jarrod Bleijie accused Miles of “lying” about the work and reiterated LNP calls for parliament to be recalled early to deal with what his party has long labelled a “youth crime crisis”.

“[Police Minister] Mark Ryan himself defended the laws they had only 48 hours ago,” Bleijie said.

“All for the Premier, 24 hours later, to announce a raft of changes that they had concocted overnight ... because a political opportunity presented itself.”

The issue of youth crime routinely arises as a political fight in Queensland, with critics accusing both major parties of a “law and order auction” with community fears despite expert calls for calm and a focus on early intervention to help prevent young people even falling into cycles of reoffending.

Palaszczuk had in October said the government was looking at expanding its number of youth prisons to four, with $500 million on the table for a new site in Cairns. On Thursday, she said another would also be built in the south-east.

A 2019 Youth Justice Department survey found 60 per cent of young offenders had been affected by domestic violence, 46 per cent had a diagnosed or suspected mental health or behavioural disorder, and 29 per cent were in unstable or unsuitable housing.

While overall youth crime has dropped and most who come into contact with the justice system are diverted, up to half is committed by a small group of about 300-400 repeat offenders — most with First Nations backgrounds.

Amid stalled national efforts to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 — as urged by the United Nations — the Australian Human Rights Commission said last month the present approach of building more children’s prisons was “not working to keep the community safe”.