Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Australia Day this year when many of us were reflecting on the year ahead, I turned left at 5.00 pm on my way home from the city and about two minutes later at the subsequent red light, an allegedly ice-addicted 17-year-old in control of a stolen vehicle collided with two people walking their dogs. Matt Field and Kate Leadbetter and their unborn baby Miles made national headlines, but this wasn't the first time that something like this has happened. We know that only a year ago in Oatlands there was a similar disaster, with, I believe, an alcohol-affected driver coming off the road and killing four young children walking down the footpath on their way to buy an ice-cream.

This reminds us that youth justice, however complicated it is, can't be left as it is or we will simply get more of the same. While it's done at a state level, there are a few options where the Commonwealth can reach out and try to assist. I want to reflect on the words of the first responder, a policewoman who lives in my street, who said, 'Let something good come of this.'

My city has, through the numbness, been involved in discussions on this, and we have taken every suggestion possible. We had a forum involving 150 people and the 22 agencies that work in this space and asked these really hard questions: What more can we do? What can we all agree on—forget the politics—that could make the system better? We had a sequenced, thematic and expert informed conversation that took us through the early intervention, the community policing, the employment and diversion, the judicial system and how we deal with hardened offenders. What came out of this is that the Youth Justice Act was drafted long before we knew the aggressive impact of ice as a drug. I refer to it as the pre-ice age legislation. We need to recognise that identifying addiction early is absolutely key.

I really want to thank the organisations that supported my community in that discussion, led by the Redlands Local Drug Action Team, ambassadors from local schools, Love and Hope Redlands, Youth YOU, the police, Traction youth program, the Australian Drug Foundation, the Police and Citizens Youth Club, the Queensland Injectors Health Network, The Cage Youth Foundation, Sarina Russo, the Chamber of Commerce, the disability employers, the Australian Industry Trade College, AITC, Alcolizer Technology, Redlands psychologists, headspace, Metro South Primary Health Network, Queensland Network of Alcohol and Drug Agencies and legal practitioners in my area.

This has just begun, but I'm encouraging my colleagues to get involved. While you might not have had this horrific atrocity in your electorate, I know that you are also determined to work with state authorities to potentially look at more data sharing. The Commonwealth funds the system but the state is left to carry the burden of the system. Three levels of government can work together. We need to be absolutely certain welfare payments, such as Youth Allowance, that are made to 10,000 young Australian are not funding addiction. We need to help the state and the judicial system where we can.