The Palaszczuk Labor Government’s utter refusal to accept the State’s juvenile justice system is broken and ineffective has enabled “wannabe gangsters” and the criminalization of vulnerable youths to take hold in the North, Katter’s Australian Party MPs have warned.

Responding to a series of brazen and potentially deadly incidents over the weekend in Townsville, the KAP has demanded the State Government immediately fund a pilot trial of its relocation sentencing policy to break the dangerous cycle of youth crime that is eroding public safety.

On Friday, two Townsville kids were robbed at knifepoint for their push bikes by three juveniles – police are yet to identify the perpetrators.[1]

Then on Saturday, two juveniles allegedly tried to burn down multiple bus stops at Stockland Townsville Shopping Centre.[2]

Meanwhile chronic and brazen acts of vandalism by young criminals continue to erode business confidence in Mount Isa, with locals struggling to foot the bills to replace broken glass, clean up graffiti and replace stolen goods. [3]

KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said youth justice in Queensland had failed, and the State Government’s band-aid attempts at addressing both the cause and effect of juvenile offending were a farce.

He said an innovative approach to the issue was needed, and the Government needed to explore alternative sentencing options that remove repeat offenders away from both the streets and youth detention centres.

The KAP’s answer to a crime circuit-breaker in the form of Relocation Sentencing was top of its list of five non-negotiable projects ahead of the Queensland Budget’s release in mid-June, requesting $250,000 to fund a trial of the policy in North Queensland.

However the Palaszcuk Labor Government did not fund new crime preventative measures in its Budget.

KAP Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said the current system was failing to halt crime because incarceration was no deterrent to kids from broken homes where their basic needs were not catered to.

“A lot of youth and justice advocates like to say incarceration doesn’t work, but I disagree with that,” he said.

“Incarceration works just fine if you have a life that’s worth living on the outside, but if you don’t then you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by committing crime to the point you get locked up and provided a nice bed and three square meals a day on the inside.

“We can’t allow these kids back out onto the street because they are wreaking havoc and literally destroying lives, but we also can’t keep throwing them into detention where they are further criminalized by unscrupulous influences.

“There is a third option however, and the KAP has been pleaded with Government to give it a trial for years.”

The relocation sentencing policy was widely supported at recent public hearings for the Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2021.

But the policy remains ignored by the state’s leaders despite in the four years to 2018-19, Queensland Government statistical data indicating a 60 per cent rise in unlawful use of motor vehicle offences, and a 27 per cent jump in unlawful entries. Juvenile offenders are responsible for a large portion of these crimes.

Further, a recent Queensland’s Family and Child Commission report to the Queensland Government on reforms being implemented under the Youth Justice Strategy 2019-23 claimed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were over-represented in jail and that communities needed to find solutions.

The damning figures sparked strong condemnations from Indigenous elders regarding the failures of incarceration and the value of proactive approaches in re-engaging youth to stop their offending.

Mr Katter said the QFCC’s report further undermined the Queensland Government’s efforts to talk down the severity of the crime crisis by spruiking skewed data showing a reduction in local youth crime in the 12-month period to November 2020.

[1] YOUTH CRIME: Kids robbed at knifepoint in Cranbrook for their pushbikes | Townsville Bulletin

2 Stockland FIRE: Juveniles captured by CCTV setting Stockland’s Anne St bus stop on fire | Townsville Bulletin

3 Business owners in Mount Isa struggle to keep up with crime costs – ABC News

[1] YOUTH CRIME: Kids robbed at knifepoint in Cranbrook for their pushbikes | Townsville Bulletin

[2] Stockland FIRE: Juveniles captured by CCTV setting Stockland’s Anne St bus stop on fire | Townsville Bulletin

[3] Business owners in Mount Isa struggle to keep up with crime costs – ABC News