As Queensland battles a surge in youth crime since David Crisafulli's government introduced tougher laws, the state's Police Commissioner is warning that tougher laws only yield results if the courts do their job.
For more, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli joins.
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We're more on our top story now, in Queensland, is battling a youth crime surge this morning. 227 juveniles have been arrested and charged with almost 500 offences since David Christopher Lee's government introduced tougher youth crime laws three weeks ago. The state's police commissioner warns that young criminals are becoming more violent and brazen, adding that tougher laws will only yield results if the courts do their job as well. Well, joining us now is the Queensland Premier, David Christopher Lee, who is live in Brisbane. Morning to you, Premier. Thanks for being with us. All right, so more rest aren't necessarily a good thing, right? We want to see less crime, don't we? It shows that we're throwing the kitchen sick at it and we have to do that because the state is in the grips of a youth crime crisis. I've said that really clearly before the election and my focus is as determined as ever after it. It's been less than a month since those new laws passed and I hope Queenslanders are seeing how serious we are. This is Christmas time, a time when most people put their feet up and the staff of the Queensland Police Service are out there to see the activity in the past few weeks. It really shows how serious they are about using these new laws to their effects. We've seen a huge presence on the Gold Coast in North Queensland. We've had an operation in the South Burnett. They are throwing the resources at it and it has to happen. We can't continue to see victim numbers rise in this state and these actions are proof of how serious we are literally throwing everything at it. Premier, you've just mentioned their victim's numbers and you have actually said that you will resign. If victims don't come down, preventing the crime really is what we want to do, isn't it? Is this problem more complex than you thought when you were in opposition? It's a great point. I know how serious this issue is and it's been 10 years in the making, so a decade ago the former government took the decision to water down the laws. You've got 10 years of repeat hardcore young offenders. They think they are untouchable and on the back of it, they are running right through people's homes, through their businesses, through their lives. Make no mistake, this is our big focus and we are going to get on top of it. What we announced yesterday is a dedicated youth crime task force, not a fly by night, a short-term fix, a long-term approach and we are going to lock that in indefinitely. This is going to be the focus and we are going to drive down victim numbers and to see how the frontline police have embraced this gives me confidence that we are on the right track and the best way to do that is you send a message. We've given the courts the laws and now we have to make sure that that flows through to make sure that those consequences for actions are there. You also mentioned a really good point and that is early intervention. We've got to do that. We've got to turn kids around early as well. Now that you're in government, is there something that you understand now that you didn't previously about why this is so bad? No, we understand how deep the problem is. The difference between me and my predecessors is I'm going to come and front up and talk about it and put forward solutions and deal with it. I hope Queenslanders are seeing that we are being transparent with numbers, we're being transparent with operations and we are throwing the kitchen sink at this because Queenslanders have asked us to. I'm under no illusions how deep the problem is. I spent a lot of time, particularly in regional Queensland, where this was the epicenter. This all started in Townsville when the people of that city bravely called this out and it has spread throughout the state and for 10 years we've had excuses, we've had follow-offs, we've had residents told that it's not an issue, you're better to an issue, which is why police are dealing with it the way they are, which is why we've given them the laws to do their job, which is why we're going to make sure that that thin blue line doesn't keep getting thinner and we're going to give more police, but we also have to do early intervention and turn kids around and we're working overtime on that as well. Okay, well you said that you'll resign. If the victim numbers don't come down, we appreciate your time. Premier David Pisser fully, thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING]
