Across Far North Queensland there is a simple expectation that every family shares.
People want to feel safe in their homes.
They want to know their children can sleep at night without the fear of someone breaking into the house.
They want to know their car will still be in the driveway in the morning.
They want to know their small business will not be smashed and looted again.
But during Labor’s decade in power, that basic sense of safety was taken away from too many Queenslanders.
In 2023 alone, 289,657 Queenslanders became victims of crime.
Nearly 300,000 victims.
Queensland recorded the highest victim numbers in the nation. Robberies, break-ins and car theft were among the worst in Australia.
Nearly 50,000 break-ins occurred across the state, and more than 34,000 of those were people’s homes.
Homes.
The one place people should feel safe.
Mr Speaker, those are not just statistics.
Those numbers represent frightened families, exhausted police officers and communities that felt ignored by a government that refused to listen.
A government that weakened the law so youth criminals faced detention as a last resort and there were fewer consequences for their actions.
In Far North Queensland we’ve felt it firsthand, and we’ve been feeling it for years and we are tired.
I have spoken to residents who have had their cars stolen more than once.
Business owners who arrived at work to find broken glass across the floor again.
Parents who told their children to sleep with their bedroom doors locked.
And while all of this was happening, what did Labor MPs say?
They called it a media beat-up.
Tell that to the victims.
Because the truth is this crisis did not appear out of thin air.
It was created by ten years of poor policy decisions.
In 2016, the Labor Government weakened the Youth Justice Act.
They made detention a last resort and removed breach of bail as an offence.
In 2019, they weakened bail laws even further, allowing more repeat offenders back into the community.
The result was predictable.
Repeat offenders committing crime after crime.
During Labor’s decade in power:
Total crime increased 27 per cent.
Car theft increased 101 per cent.
Break-ins increased 44 per cent.
Assaults increased 198 per cent.
Victim numbers increased 193 per cent.
That is not a small policy failure.
That is a decade-long collapse in community safety.
And I want to address the Member for Cairns.
For years he sat on the government benches while these laws were weakened, and he voted for them.
For years he defended the policies that allowed youth crime to spiral.
For years he failed to stand up for the people of Far North Queensland when they needed leadership.
When your community is hurting, you do not dismiss their concerns.
When crime is rising, you do not pretend the problem does not exist.
And when families are frightened in their own homes, you do not stay silent while your government weakens the law.
Interestingly he’s now speaking up in it now he’s not in government. He’s even advocating for liquor licensing changes that he could have advocated for when he was in government but he sat silent and now our city is filled with antisocial behaviour.
The Crisafulli Government is taking a very different approach.
We are restoring consequences through Adult Crime, Adult Time laws.
Those laws are now being expanded to cover 45 serious offences, including rioting, domestic violence strangulation and conspiring to murder.
More than 4,000 youth offenders have already been charged under these laws, sending a clear message that serious crime will have serious consequences.
Because in Queensland, the rights of victims must always come before the rights of criminals.
We are also strengthening police powers to protect our business precincts.
New Designated Business and Community Precinct laws will give police stronger powers to move on and ban repeat offenders from key commercial areas.
These reforms will also extend Jack’s Law wanding powers into those precincts to keep weapons off our streets.
This is about protecting small businesses, workers and families who deserve to feel safe in the places where they live and work.
We are backing these reforms with stronger frontline policing.
There are now more police in Far North Queensland than at any point in the past 12 years.
In 2018, the Member for Cairns celebrated the delivery of 47 police over four years.
This Government has delivered more than 199 police to Far North Queensland in just 15 months.
That is the difference between excuses and action.
Far North Queensland is strong and resilient.
But resilience should never be mistaken for acceptance.
Our communities will not accept crime as normal.
And under the Crisafulli Government they finally have a government that is listening, acting and standing up for them.
Because keeping Queenslanders safe is not optional.
It is the first duty of any government.
And it is a duty this government will never walk away from.
