While the Queensland government and its opposition entertain rivalry over who has the best handle on crime in the state, a skilled lawyer and criminologist say they have both got it wrong.
Crime in Queensland is a prominent topic in the state, arguably second only to the cost of living crisis.
The Liberal National Party (LNP) has criticised the Labor government, saying it has gone soft on crime, and that statistics show a surge in criminal activity across Queensland.
Labor, on the other hand, says its plan to tackle crime in the state is working, backed by its own set of data.
However, according to lawyer and criminologist Tony Nikolic, both parties may be overlooking crucial aspects of intelligent policy-making.
Nikolic notes that crime tends to pop up as a hot topic during elections, a pattern observed since the early 1900s.
“What we don’t have are enough education systems,” Nikolic said.
Schools, he says, have a responsibility and Australia is falling behind in educating young people. What comes after is a system that is reactionary—to the detriment of the economy and public safety.
He highlights that economic modelling favours crime prevention over the cost of the consequences.
While politicians fight over punishment, Nikolic says it would make far more sense to focus on education and prevention—a system he says would save $5 on punishment for every $1 spent on prevention. He says the concept would be “revolutionary.”
Diversion programs and mediation could free up dollars and free up courts and the criminal system.
When it comes to domestic violence, Nikolic says that the current system does not “triage” domestic violence cases, meaning it fails to differentiate between varying levels of severity. As a result, minor disputes could end up in the criminal system along with real assaults.
When it comes to youth crime, he wants to see more police on the beat with a renewed community focus so that young people can develop a dialogue with police.
“We should be saying ‘let’s give this kid a chance’ and if he’s stabbed someone then ‘let’s not give him a chance,’” he said.
He adds that the public often overreacts, making it difficult to have a balanced discussion on how to handle different levels of offenses.
“We don’t need tougher laws, we need smarter policies. (The current system) actually degrades confidence in the justice system,” he said.
Nikolic says there is a desperate need for a focus on diversion programs, which he says offenders could be ordered to pay for themselves—relieving the taxpayer of a multitude of costs including imprisonment.
He said that when someone ends up in the criminal system, they usually fall deeper down the dark path of offending because finding work gets harder, and socially isolating factors increase.
Serious offending, Nikolic says, should, of course, be dealt with appropriate measures. However, the practice of sweeping all forms of crime into the same basket risks further societal decline and cost.
LNP Promises Tough Stance
Queensland’s opposing LNP released statistics this week based on state police data, showing a 193 percent surge in recorded crimes since 2015.The LNP attributes the increase in crime across the state to the policies of the Palaszczuk and Miles governments.
According to the data, the number of reported crimes for assault, sexual offences, and robbery rose from 28,369 in the 2015-16 financial year to 83,276 in 2023-24.
However, Australian Bureau of Statistics records show that Queensland’s population grew from 4.7 million in the 2016 Census to 5.16 million in 2021, with strong additional migration to the Sunshine State still ongoing.
Despite this population growth, Shadow Minister for Police and Community Safety Dan Purdie said the statistics showed Labor had failed at curtailing crime, something Opposition Leader David Crisafulli says is the product of low police numbers and “weak laws.”
“There are more victims of crime in Queensland than New South Wales and Victoria,” Purdie said, adding that the LNP’s proposed Making Queensland Safer Laws would address these shortcomings.
If the LNP is successful at the polls in October, then Queenslanders would see the removal of detention as a last resort, and the party has vowed to implement better intervention programs.
Shadow Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support Laura Gerber said the concept of “adult time for adult crime” needed to be introduced.
“A decade ago (Labor) loudly and proudly watered down the youth justice laws and it created a generation of untouchables,” she said.
Record Police Investment: Labor
Labor’s viewpoint is different, yet the focus remains on the seriousness of crime in Queensland.State Labor Minister for Police and Community Safety, Mark Ryan, highlighted that Labor had brought in strong laws and made record investments in policing by way of the $1.28 billion Community Safety for Queensland Plan.
This plan includes an expanded Polair helicopter fleet.
Ryan said the combined numbers of police and recruits were at a record high.
“Queensland has the toughest youth justice laws in the nation, including a presumption against bail for serious offenders, and for the first time in Queensland history, breach of bail is now an offence for young offenders under the bail act,” he told The Epoch Times.
Ryan also noted the expansion of Jack’s Law, which gives police more powers to intercept knives on the street, and bans juveniles from purchasing knives.
Police have also received targeted funding to conduct high-visibility patrols, and have deployed the specialist crime-fighting Taskforce Guardian and Operation Whiskey Legion. These teams provide a surge capacity of specialist detectives that can saturate a given area.
Labor says the LNP numbers, while serious, do not reflect the four percent drop in unique offenders since the last financial year. They say the number of unique offenders was 32 percent higher when the LNP was in government from 2012-13.
Some numbers, according to Labor, are up because of additional criminal categories, such as strangulation, which is now classified as a separate offence, leading to more recorded cases.
“It’s also important to note that the reporting of domestic violence matters has increased dramatically,” Ryan said.
“That is a good thing because it demonstrates that victims are now more willing and have greater confidence to reach out for help.”
Ryan also said that police officers have been undergoing specialist domestic violence training. Since 2022, every element of domestic violence has been recorded as a separate offence.
Labor also pointed to a 6.7 percent reduction in youth crime from 2022-23 to 2023-24, attributing the overall decline in crime to a focus on reducing repeat offending.
They report that crime rates have dropped across all regions, with the Wide Bay showing the highest amount of reduction at 39 percent.
Numbers and Nuance
However, Garner Clancey, an Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Sydney, notes that interpreting crime data could be a curious thing.The academic told The Epoch Times that nuances are often lost in reporting statistics, and reports on crime in Queensland were no different.
“For example, population growth is a significant variable—just reporting on actual offences does not consider impacts of population growth,” he said.
“Crime trends over the period mentioned have been impacted by COVID and lockdowns, so there can also be some challenges in making sense of some of the data.
“Increases in reporting of some crimes might be considered desirable—a reflection of growing acceptance that certain behaviours are crimes.”
Clancey said it became even more complex when studying the overall pattern regarding crime.
“In terms of national trends, there are various challenges,” he said.
“There does seem to be a general uptick in some crimes post the COVID period.
“Prior to then, some jurisdictions had seen considerable falls in some offence categories. Making sense of crime trends in most recent years has been somewhat challenging.”
