Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will come as no surprise that Queensland is in the midst of a youth crime crisis. Sadly, I am being contacted every day by concerned people across my electorate, from Burpengary East to Aspley, who no longer feel safe—people like Andrew, from Kippa-Ring, who told me that his local shops are being hit with crime from youth crime offenders nearly every day. Geoff from Newport told me: 'The crime is terrible. Our street is being constantly targeted. We are desperate for it to stop.' Katrina who told me, 'It has been out of control far too long because there are no repercussions.' Just last week, after the murder of a 70-year-old grandmother in Brisbane by a 15-year-old, we saw the shocking footage of our incompetent premier, Steven Miles, laughing off questions in relation to youth crime and replying that his government has no plans to make any changes to address the crisis.

The truth is that the current youth crime epidemic in Queensland is a result of the Palaszczuk-Miles Labor government watering down the Queensland Youth Justice Act eight years ago. Every single day, innocent people are having their homes broken into, cars hijacked, businesses destroyed and, tragically, in too many cases, losing their lives, and yet Labor has no plans.

The people of Petrie and Queensland deserve better. Only David Crisafulli and an LNP government will take action on youth crime by rewriting the Queensland Youth Justice Act. They need to act. They need to act now.