Send crims out bush or no deal: KAP

HINCHINBROOK MP Nick Dametto has warned the major parties to “sit up and listen” to Katter’s Australian Party’s “tough, anti-crime policies” with the prospect of a hung parliament likely after the state election.

Mr Dametto ( pictured) said any talk by either Labor or the LNP about what they would do on the issue of youth crime if elected was “playing around the edges”, saying recent policy announcements showed both major parties are behind on community expectations.

“Polling suggests s there’s a strong chance the major parties are going to need the KAP to form government, like it or not,” he said.

“Labor and the

LNP better get used to the idea of having to adopt the KAP’S relocation sentencing policy for juvenile offenders if either of them wish to govern into the future.”

Mr Dametto said relocation sentencing will give magistrates a third option to punish serial juvenile offenders by sending them to an approved remote property at Lake Julius, west of Mount Isa.

“Offenders will find themselves on a one-way bus for six to 12 month stints of hard labour living in dongastyle accommodation. This will be much cheaper than building another Cleveland Bay Detention Centre,” Mr Dametto said.

“The site’s remoteness will become a part of the security, so there’s no need to spend millions of dollars on fencing when you’re set up hundreds of kilometres away from anywhere. Young criminals would also be issued GPS bracelets to track down would-be escapees.”

Under the KAP’S plan, offenders would work on the land to learn life skills.

“This policy will help break the cycle of youth crime before offenders become career criminals, while keeping our community safe,” Mr Dametto said.

“It’s time to change the way we deal with the hard nuts. Labor’s current Youth Justice system has failed our communities.”