Bail crackdown, strike team to combat spiralling youth crime in north
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill wants the community to help prevent young people turning to crime after the State Government promised a long-awaited crackdown on youth offenders.
Hill said there were possibly 60 young people routinely causing trouble between Townsville, which has a population of almost 200,000, and Cairns to the north.
“At the moment, we’ve got a number of young offenders who are reoffending and becoming increasingly violent,” Hill said.
“They should not be getting bail. We need to stop the cycle.”
The Government today promised a bail crackdown, among other measures, at a time when the looming pandemic and economic crisis offers a bleak outlook for the regions. Hill welcomed the announcements but suggested it was a multi-layered problem needing a multi-layered solution.
With almost one in four young people in Townsville already unemployed, Hill said she was worried youth crime in the current economic climate would lead to other problems if not addressed.
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“It creates a level of distrust in the community that we really don’t want,” she said.
Hill called on local communities, both indigenous and non-indigenous, to do more to support children and set a good example for the next generation.
“The use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy has caused some real issues for these children, where you will never change their behaviours,” Hill said.
“That’s why the communities need to do more.”
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The Government has also promised a police strike team supported by youth justice workers, and culture-based rehabilitation for indigenous offenders through new On Country initiatives to be trialled in Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa.
Nine community-based crime action committees will also be established in Cairns, Rockhampton, Mount Isa, Toowoomba, Caboolture, Ipswich, Logan (integrated with the Logan Together initiative), the Gold Coast and Brisbane, in addition to a similar group already operating in Townsville.
Police Minister Mark Ryan flew to Townsville today to make the announcement with the local police chief, while Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk scheduled an announcement for the same time in Rockhampton.
“We acknowledge that local communities and their families have concerns about youth crime,” Palaszczuk said in a statement.
“Where there is crime there must be punishment. Criminals – especially young ones – should fear the law.”
The announcements came after a long-running Liberal National Party campaign on crime policies, sometimes perceived to be a traditional strength of the conservatives. Today, federal LNP members used The Australian newspaper to accuse Palaszczuk of being “soft on crime,” ahead of the state election in October.
Palaszczuk then used social media to distribute an animated summary of Labor’s “hard line on youth crime”.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their home and their community,” Palaszczuk tweeted.
“That’s why we’re taking tougher action on crime and its causes.”
However, the state’s Deputy Opposition Leader, Tim Mander, said Labor could not be trusted to fix the problem and its “5 Point Crime Plan” from 2016 had proved ineffective.
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