Queensland Premier David Crisafulli says there are signs the government’s new youth crime laws are working, with a small reduction in some offences.
The opposition though is accusing him of trying to duck a pre-election pledge to set year-on-year targets for crime victim numbers.
“We’ve seen a reduction in the order of about 8 per cent in stolen cars and break and enters,” Crisafulli said.
There are still questions over whether the premier is matching all his tough talk from from before the election.
During Nine’s election debate he said: “We’ll be setting targets for fewer victims, year on year, and that is important to me.”
But no specific year-on-year targets have yet been released by the government.
When asked what the target was he said “to go down”.
“Well, we addressed that before the election … I said to you fewer victims of crime,” he said.
Opposition Leader Steven Miles said: “For someone who speaks a lot about putting KPIs on, he seems pretty keen on not putting a KPI on this one.”
The battle over youth crime numbers will resume in parliament this week, with debate to also focus on the cost of new hospitals, energy, and past forensic lab failures.
New legislation is set to be introduced so 40,000 DNA samples aren’t automatically destroyed before they can be re-examined.
“This is all about faster access to justice,” Attorney-General Deb Frecklington said.
