Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced plans to crack down on youth crime in the state following two separate incidents that left three adults and an unborn child dead in recent weeks. Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Palaszczuk said the new measures will target hardcore youth criminals who repeatedly offend and put the community at risk.
“The community expects us to do more and that is exactly what we will do,” the premier said, The Australian reports. “Families have been shattered and lives have been lost.”
Under the new laws announced Tuesday, which will be introduced into parliament this month, 16 and 17-year-olds released on bail will be required to wear GPS tracking devices. The presumption of bail will also be removed for serious indictable offences such as breaking and entering, serious sexual assault and armed robbery. Parents will also be required to vouch for their children before they’re released on bail. And according to a report in The Courier Mail, the government, however, won’t make breach of bail an offence.
Meanwhile, to prevent crime police will be given metal detecting wands to target knife crime on the Gold Coast, while anti-hooning laws will be strengthened to hold the registered owner of a vehicle responsible, except in cases where the vehicle has been stolen. A parliamentary inquiry will also examine the implementation of remote engine mobilisers.
The changes come following the deaths of pedestrians Kate Leadbetter, 31, who was pregnant, and her partner Matty Field, 37. The pair were out walking their dogs in Brisbane’s Alexandra Hills on January 26, when they were struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by a teen on bail. The couple and their unborn child died at the scene.
And just last week Jennifer Board, 22, was killed when her motorbike collided head-on with a car that lost control while chasing a stolen vehicle in a vigilante-style pursuit in Townsville late Friday night. A teenage girl has been charged with five counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle relating to the crash.
Assistant Police Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon will lead a Youth Crime Taskforce to implement the new measures and former police commissioner Bob Atkinson will conduct a review of the measures in six months.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said young offenders needed to learn the consequences of their actions.
“This is about targeting the hardcore repeat offenders — those 10 per cent of youth offenders who are frequently putting the community at risk,” he said.
“We must stop young hardcore offenders being let out on bail and reoffending the next day. That is why we are making these changes to bail laws. Ten per cent of all youth offenders account for 48 per cent of all youth crime. It is this group we will target with all the force and resources at our disposal.”
The new changes mark the second time in under 12 months the Palaszczuk government has tightened those laws. In June last year the government introduced new laws to deny bail to repeat offenders. The move came after the government radically watered down youth bail laws in 2019.