The Liberal Nationwide get together chief, David Crisafulli, has promised to introduce “mandatory isolation periods” for kids who assault employees in youth detention, because the Queensland opposition formally launched its state election marketing campaign on Sunday.
Talking to a crowd of LNP candidates and get together trustworthy in Ipswich, Crisafulli centered a lot of his remarks on what he has dubbed the state’s “youth crime crisis”.
The opposition chief was launched by Cindy Micallef, the daughter of a stabbing sufferer, Vyleen White.
Crisafulli introduced a brand new detention coverage, dubbed “detention with purpose”, which he stated would come with “minimum isolation periods for youth who commit assault in detention”.
Consultants have lengthy been involved on the extent of using “separation” in Queensland’s youth detention centres and imagine the observe is a key cause why 96% of kids reoffend after launch.
Guardian Australia revealed final yr that some kids held on the Cleveland youth detention centre in Townsville had been receiving little or no training or rehabilitation applications, largely because of the period of time they had been held in solitary confinement.
Crisafulli stated his plan could be to make training “compulsory” in youth detention. He instructed reporters afterwards that stronger punishments for assaulting employees would assist to draw extra employees and in flip scale back the extent to which kids had been remoted on account of workers shortages.
He additionally stated the LNP would introduce a “privilege-based system” and that televisions in cells, as an illustration, could be a reward for good behaviour.
“If the state is taking over responsibility for their care, we must make sure they use their time to become better people, not better criminals,” he stated.
“[Youth crime] is a topic this government hasn’t wanted to speak about the entire campaign,” he stated.
The premier, Steven Miles, responded on Sunday saying: “mandatory solitary confinement will not prevent a single crime”.
“The fact is, education is already mandatory in our detention facilities,” he stated.
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“What we’ve been doing over time is increasing access to schooling and increasing access to health care services because so many of the young people entering our detention system are suffering from mental health, alcohol and drug abuse issues.”
In entrance of a crowd of about 150 loyalists, Crisafulli implored Queenslanders “wherever they live, whatever they do, however they’ve voted before … to vote for a fresh start”.
Exterior the venue, union and pro-choice protesters known as on candidates and others attending to “tell us how you’re going to vote” on abortion, amid hypothesis of a conscience vote to limit abortion rights within the subsequent parliament.
Crisafulli and the LNP have repeatedly stated they’ve “ruled out” modifications to the state’s 2018 legal guidelines that decriminalised abortion however candidates have all refused to say how they’d vote if a reform invoice got here earlier than the subsequent parliament.
The deputy opposition chief, Jarrod Bleijie, joked that the protesters “went a little quiet earlier so I went out and gave them a wave”.
Bleijie predicted intensifying assaults within the ultimate week of the marketing campaign, with polls tightening barely however nonetheless pointing to a snug LNP win.
“The union movement, I’d say they haven’t even started yet. The money they’ll spend in the next few days to cling to power, you’ve seen nothing like it before.”
