Crime measures backed
Atkinson defends government initiatives
THE man tasked with reviewing the state government’s measures to combat youth crime says they have been ‘worthwhile’ despite harsh criticism aimed at the government by their political opponents.
Bob Atkinson, who served as the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service between 2000 and 2012, was engaged to review the government’s eight legislative amendments and nine policy initiatives put in place to kerb youth crime after two highprofile fatalities in Townsville in late 2020 and early 2021.
Despite controversial measures such as the GPS electronic tracking trial that only saw a handful of youths fitted with the devices, and the report concluding that youth offending while on bail increased in the wake of the new laws Mr Atkinson said the reforms should be continued.
“Personally, yes, I think it [the GPS trial] is worth continuing,” Mr Atkinson said.
A further review, dealing specifically with the GPS trial itself, is in the final stages of being completed by Mr Atkinson.
Burdekin MP and Opposition Minister for Police and Corrective Services Dale Last said the report was clear evidence that the reforms had failed.
“According to the former Commissioner ‘the volume of offending by young people while subject to bail has increased’ and that illustrates perfectly that the government’s so-called tough bail laws are failing at the first hurdle,” Mr Last said.
“Instead of offenders on bail taking advantage of the opportunity to mend their ways, they are offending even more.
“But what will really send a chill up the spine of every Queenslander is the statement that, while these young offenders are on bail, the level of ‘offending categorised as serious’ has also increased. So, not only are they offending while on bail, they are committing more serious offences.”
Minister for Children, Youth Justice and Multicultural Affairs Leanne Linard rejected the accusation that the government had ‘played politics’ by delaying the report’s release and said she ‘wasn’t surprised’ the report had concluded that offending on bail had increased.
“What we saw in the report was the comparison between 2019 and 2021. What precipitated these additional measures, including the concern here in Townsville after some tragic incidents, was that we were seeing that 10 per cent of serious repeat offenders, they were committing a large number of offences,” Ms Linard said.
“That’s why we took this strong action, I’m not surprised to see that they came through the report in the data, because we knew that those repeat offenders were committing a large number of offences. To me, that confirms the strong action we’ve taken. We’ve seen more of those young people remanded in custody.”