Qld Premier on plans to tackle youth crime

Queensland Premier Steven Miles has discussed the state’s youth crime crisis and his government’s plans to tackle it.

It comes after the Queensland Government Statisticians Office released a new report revealing around 55 per cent of break-ins were committed by children in 2022-2023.

“I think everyone in Queensland knows we saw a disturbing surge in crime rates in 2022 and 2023,” Mr Miles told Sky News Australia.

“Since then, our police have responded really strongly, and in this first quarter of this year, we’ve seen a significant turnaround of 10.7 per cent reduction in those rates.

“So we want to see that continue.

“That’s why this week and next will be outlining our plans to do more of what we know is working, more of what we know is keeping the community safe.

“We are detaining more young people than anywhere else in the country, so we have the strongest laws already; what we need to do is to continue to back our police to use those laws and use detention where it is necessary.

“But, more importantly, to prevent crime where we can, to intervene as early as we can and to support victims once a crime has occurred, and they will be the pillars of our community safety plan.”

Qld Premier on plans to tackle youth crime