Queensland premier promises harsher youth bail laws; auction clearance rates below 50% again

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli vowed to imprison more youth offenders during a keynote speech at the Liberal National Party's state conference on Sunday. He said his government would create and legislate a new offence by the end of the year, carrying a mandatory sentence—yet to be set—for repeat offenders who commit serious crimes while on bail.

"Breach bail, go to jail is the next phase of adult crime, adult time, which is holding youth offenders accountable for the first time in a long time," Crisafulli said. He added that the state was heading in the right direction and would continue reforms to what he called Labor’s weak bail laws.

However, Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes stated that Queensland already has the “harshest youth bail laws in Australia,” as the previous government introduced a presumption against bail and made breach of bail a criminal offence. "Queensland already locks up more kids than anywhere else in Australia—more than Victoria and New South Wales combined," Hayes said, calling the new plan a further step to make already harsh laws harsher.

Sisters Inside CEO Debbie Kilroy accused the LNP government of having “declared war on children” and of building a youth justice system driven by headlines instead of evidence. Shadow youth justice minister Di Farmer warned that detention centres were already at capacity and experiencing lock downs, asking where the government would place additional young offenders.

Separately, new data from Cotality shows that auction clearance rates across the combined capital cities fell to 49.8% for the week, marking the third consecutive week below the 50% threshold.