By Jeremy Cook
Queensland Premier Steven Miles accused television media of being “addicted to CCTV footage of crime” in a rather blunt admission to the Guardian’s Australian Politics podcast in early-September.
The premier made the claim during a discussion on youth crime during which he also said it had become harder for his Labor government to discuss its focus on early intervention programs due to how TV news bulletins reported on the issue.
As debate rages on how to address youth crime ahead of next month’s state election, Warwick Stanthorpe Today asked candidates in the Southern Downs electorate two key questions. Where does youth crime as an issue in your electorate, and is the government right to describe the issue as a media beat-up?
The Southern Downs electorate includes the major towns of Warwick and Stanthorpe. It also extends further west to cover Goondiwindi where fears of a youth crime crisis reached fever-pitch in August after a spate of alleged violent break-ins.
Here’s how candidates responded.
The LNP’s incumbent Southern Downs MP James Lister said he disagreed with the media beat-up assertion and accused the government of misrepresenting statistics.
“Juvenile crime is still climbing and good people who live by and uphold the law are suffering from Labor’s crime crisis,” Mr Lister said.
“Have you checked the cost of your insurance lately?
“Labor have designed a statistic to claim that juvenile crime is falling. Who are they kidding? It’s going up and up and you only need to look out the bloody window to see that.
“The only statistic which matters is the number of crimes committed, and the number of victims impacted and that number is as high as it has ever been and still climbing.”
Greens candidate David Newport pointed the finger at both major parties over claims they had “turned crime into a political football”.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe, secure and welcome in their home and neighbourhood,” Mr Newport said.
“But the major parties have turned crime into a political football — putting scoring political points and media stunts ahead of proven reforms that keep our community safe,” he said.
“Queensland puts people in prison at a higher rate than anywhere else in Australia and yet people still report feeling more worried about safety.
“Meanwhile, Labor and the LNP have stripped back proven programmes in early intervention, rehabilitation, diversion and community policing — and it has just made our communities feel less safe.”
If elected, Mr Newport said the Greens would fund programs which have proven to reduce repeat offending like drug and alcohol rehab centres, community mentorship and trauma-informed therapy.
A report released by Queensland’s Family and Child Commission in June found rates of recidivism among young people released from jail were as high 96 per cent in 2023.
“Our community deserves better than a failed approach to safety that just ends in locking more kids as young as 10 up in prison,” Mr Newport said.
“We will put diversion first and intervene earlier to stop crime before it happens with community-based screening for people struggling and funding school-based service and referral hubs,” he said.
“We will help victims struggling with the impacts of crime with easier access to Victim Assist payments and expanding compensation schemes.”
One Nation candidate Liz Suduk labelled youth crime a “huge issue” in the Southern Downs and rejected the media beat-up label.
“Warwick, Stanthorpe, and especially Goondiwindi have substantial issues right now. It is a problem facing all our communities and it is affecting how people feel in their own homes,” Ms Suduk said.
“I also believe that rural crime, such as theft of fuel, cars and machinery from farms is also on the rise,” she said.
“The cost to businesses and households is tremendous. Insurance premiums are rising, and people are feeling unsafe.”
Ms Suduk, a former cop who worked for the NSW police force in rural and metropolitan areas for 10 years, said she had seen “what works and what does not”.
“Our Police are doing a fantastic job, but resources are being stretched to the limit with overwhelming workloads and with more officers leaving the force than ever before,” she said.
“The courts continue to release repeat offenders onto the streets, which is hugely frustrating.
“I would like to see [a] dog squad unit stationed in Goondiwindi, until the problems are settled and then I would like to see the units used as a regional resource where they could be rotated through different areas, as a high-profile effective deterrent.”
Ms Suduk said she would devote resources to preventing at-risk youth from “continuing a life of crime” and threw her support behind redirection programs like operation hard yakka.
Family First candidate Melinda Keller described youth crime as “a symptom of a society in moral decline”.
“The foundations that built this country have been under attack and the result is instability, uncertainty, and fear,” Ms Keller said.
Earlier this year, the state government released its four-year youth justice strategy which outlined three core focus areas including prevention, intervention and detention.
In its latest youth crime policy, the LNP proposed introducing laws which would allow courts to consider a youth offender’s full criminal history when sentencing.
