Crime still prime issue as campaign reaches pointy end
Leadership hopefuls Steven Miles and David Crisafulli will spend the final week of the Queensland election campaign travelling across the state.
Voters will head to the ballot box on Saturday with polling indicating the state is set for a change of government despite Mr Miles making ground on his rival as preferred premier.
The LNP leads the incumbent Labor government 55 to 45 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis according to News Corp polling.
Mr Miles’ popularity as leader sits at 36 per cent, with Mr Crisafulli still ahead at 37 per cent.
Mr Crisafulli has ventured north to crime-plagued Townsville after announcing reforms to Queensland’s youth detention program at the LNP’s official campaign launch on Sunday.
Dubbed “detention with purpose” by the LNP, children within youth detention centres would be subjected to discipline and rehabilitation through compulsory education, minimum isolation periods and behavioural management programs as part of the reforms.
The LNP says children who adhere to rules within detention centres will maintain privileges such as access to television, computers and social time while those who engage in violent behaviour towards staff will be isolated.
Staffing in detention centres was a major issue because of the actions of youths, Mr Crisafulli said.
“By doing these changes, you give the staff the ability not to leave in the record numbers that they are,” he said.
“Part of the reason why these facilities so often don’t provide the structure to turn a kid around is because recruiting and retaining staff is pretty difficult.
“I do believe that having a system where detention can be a mixture of discipline and structure, strength and compassion – it will help the staff to do their job as well.”
Mr Miles said the LNP reforms were fear-mongering.
“Mandatory sentencing and mandatory solitary confinement will not prevent a single crime,” he said.
“It is our community safety plan that is focused on early intervention and prevention because we want to prevent crimes before they occur.
“We’ll continue to resource our youth justice system based on the programs that we know are working, using the data provided to us by the police that David Crisafulli refuses to acknowledge because it does not suit his narrative of fear.
“This is his fear campaign and he continues to run it despite evidence from the police to the contrary.”
Mr Miles was pointing to data from the Queensland Police Service that shows child offender rates dropped two per cent in 2023/24 and have decreased by 18 per cent since 2012/13.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the state’s youth crime rate has halved in the past 14 years.
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