Opposition Leader David Crisafulli has unveiled the Liberal National Party’s plan to rehabilitate youth offenders, but Katter’s Australian Party has accused it of being a mirror of its Send ‘em Bush policy. Photo: Facebook.
Barbs are being traded over the Liberal National Party’s (LNP) plan to tackle youth crime and rehabilitate offenders, with one of its political adversaries branding it as a poor imitation of a policy it has been trying to bring into effect for seven years.
The LNP announced its Circuit Breaker Sentencing intensive rehabilitation program for youth offenders on 17 October, which would involve a three- to six-month sentenced alternative to detention “outside of urban areas”.
Under the $80 million plan, two small-group facilities with a combined capacity of 60 youth would be built outside urban areas in northern and southern Queensland and offer wraparound social and health services to break the cycle of crime.
While the LNP is spruiking the strategy as one that adopts a “tough-on-crime approach” and will redirect youth offenders from lifetimes of crime, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) has slammed the plan as one that simply mirrors its Send ‘em Bush policy.
“It’s flattering to have your homework from the last seven years copied,” KAP leader Robbie Katter said.
“Sending criminals bush to give them a reset is just what they need – it’s what we’ve been saying for seven years now.
“It has to be said though, that the LNP seem to be scrambling; they continually voted down all KAP’s crime bills for the last seven years, when we have been pushing this policy – it’s just so disappointing to see them use this as an election stunt now.”
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli dismissed the similarities between policies and said he believed his party’s plan would stop the cycle of crime through the genuine rehabilitation of repeat youth offenders.
“Circuit Breaker Sentencing not only keeps dangerous youth criminals off our streets, it rehabilitates young people who have become embedded in the cycle of crime,” he said.
“Our plan will pull a U-turn on these youth offenders’ lives of crime as the last stop before detention.
“With three to six months of intensive rehabilitation, these programs will have a focus on structure, consequences for action, education and discipline.”
Mr Katter said the LNP needed to provide more detail about what would constitute a non-urban location for the facilities to be sited at.
“We know that a Brisbane party will stuff up the roll out of our policy – they say ‘outside urban areas’ – this better not be in the Lockyer Valley; somewhere like Urandangi is where these camps need to be built,” he said.
