Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The time has come to hold Queensland Labor to account for the youth crime crisis that has swept through our state and hurt my home city of Toowoomba so badly. As we come to the election on 26 October, it is clear that only the LNP is willing to do what it takes to stop this youth crime crisis.

In our city and in their home towns, people feel helpless in their own homes. I've spoken to residents who now sleep with weapons under their beds and under their pillows. I've spoken to residents whose children cannot get to sleep unless they're right beside their parents because they've witnessed a violent home invasion. I've spoken to elderly residents who watched as gangs of criminals ransacked their houses, abusing them on the way through. And I've spoken to police who feel absolutely helpless that they cannot in any way steer the kids that they're picking up on a Monday away from the crimes that they know they're going to commit on a Wednesday. This cycle has continued through our state. I've spoken to friends of Robert Brown, who died at the hands of a youth criminal on the streets of Toowoomba in a terrible assault that was, quite frankly, the last straw for Toowoomba, and we demanded change.

But we are not helpless. On 26 October, we can stand up and tell Labor that we've had enough, that we're sick of their soft on crime stance and that we want a change. In Toowoomba, we have as candidates David Janetzki, Trevor Watts and Pat Weir. They are the right team with the right policy—adult crime, adult time—to sort out this youth crime crisis and finally bring it to an end.

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