Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about tough love in the fight against escalating youth crime in my home state of Queensland. Crime is out of control in Queensland and the Palaszczuk Labor government has been hopeless at stopping it. But I had a good look at an effective solution to prevent repeat offending by at-risk youth a couple of weeks ago

Operation Hard Yakka is a military-boot-camp-style youth diversion training program, the longest-running such program in Australia. I have supported such programs for many years. The operation is based on Queensland's Fraser Coast and takes on at-risk young people who have been referred by courts or parents. The program emphasises respect, trust, self-control, self-discipline, antibullying, teamwork, confidence, motivation, rights and responsibilities. The program receives no government funding and relies on donations from businesses and organisations, like the RSL. It costs $4,700 per participant over 12 days. That is around one per cent of the cost of keeping a single young offender in detention for a year, and it works. The program has a 90 per cent success rate in turning kids lives around and preventing them from entering, or returning to, a life of crime. I think that compares very favourably to the fact that 85 per cent of serious youth criminals in Queensland reoffend within 12 months.

It's One Nation policy to fully integrate such programs into our youth criminal justice system to stop escalating crime in Queensland. I also call on Queensland businesses to consider supporting Operation Hard Yakka with a donation to address escalating crime. I'll just reiterate that: $4,700 for one child for 12 days. If we have a child in a detention centre it's about $450,000 a year. So two children in the detention centres would pay for about 200 children through this program for a year.