Youth crime and housing on the agenda as new premier David Crisafulli reveals 100-day plan for Queensland
Moments after being sworn into office, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli assured reporters he was hard at work recalibrating the “machinery of government” so his yet-to-be-named ministry could go to straight work on his 100-day battle plan.
In case you haven’t been paying attention, the four key areas of focus are:
- Youth crime
- Health
- Housing
- Cost of living
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie has devised what he called a “bible” upon which they will be held to account on these benchmarks.
It’s a bible of four pages that lists a range of priorities but is light on detail and clearly leaves room for a lot of work to be done beyond that time.
It’s also worth noting the much-vaunted 100-day review of Olympic infrastructure is not part of this time frame — it will be several weeks before an independent infrastructure coordination authority is even appointed, and then there’s Christmas to consider.
But ministers will have responsibilities spelt out clearly in charters that will be made publicly available.
Mr Crisafulli says they are drafting the Making Queensland Safer bill and it will be law by the end of the year, with two parliamentary sittings planned before Christmas.
Reducing the number of victims of crime relative to population growth over the next four years is a benchmark upon which the new premier has hung his hat.
He says the experience of his new MPs — likely to include victim of crime Russell Field (Capalaba) and former police officer Nigel Dalton (Mackay) — will help them draft the “adult crime, adult time” bill.
The LNP’s 100-day plan spells out creating a raft of new agencies — Queensland Government Consulting (just announced last week), Queensland Productivity Commission and the Independent Public Sector Commission.
It’s hoped Queensland Government Consulting will be one important way this government will address Mr Crisafulli’s promise to build “the best homegrown public service in this country”.
He says public sector employment must increase rather than decrease — particularly in health and policing.
The premier yesterday told reporters he was about to write to public servants “to assure them about the focus and the vision of the government”.
“I want them to be secure in their employment, I want them to be able to give fearless and frank advice, I want ministers who lead departments and give that advice, but it has to be free from political interference,” he said.
Loading…
More work needed on health
The LNP 100-day plan urges that Queensland Health be directed to “prepare for the publication of transparent real-time hospital data” within the government’s first month of office.
There is no firm deadline on when that will happen, just as there remains little detail on the sequence of steps expected in moving to reduce ambulance ramping.
In committing $590 million extra to improving health service delivery over four years, the new government is vowing to employ 34,200 extra health workers by 2032.
AMA Queensland president Nick Yim wants to see more detail on plans to cut ambulance ramping and elective surgery waitlists.
“Queensland has seen unprecedented population growth in the past four years that has stretched our health system,” he said.
Mr Crisafulli has said he wants more doctors and nurses making decisions on local hospital boards, but this too is unlikely to happen quickly.
The Queensland AMA says there have been no specific plans revealed about how the new government will recruit healthcare professionals, nor what it will do to retain existing staff.
What about housing and the cost of living?
There is $1 billion allocated to matching the Miles government’s 50-cent public transport fares for at least the next four years and that’s expected to be locked in over coming weeks.
Mr Crisafulli has vowed to stop budget blowouts on public infrastructure as a cost-of-living measure, though it’s unclear how this benefits the hip pockets of ordinary Queenslanders — even assuming a turbocharged public service finds a way to pull it off.
The key policy on housing is abolishing stamp duty for all first home buyers in Queensland.
A shared equity scheme will initially be open to 1,000 people who have a minimum 2 per cent deposit, by the government funding 30 per cent equity in new homes and 25 per cent in existing homes, up to $750,000.
The government aims to address the rental crisis by removing restrictions on first home buyers renting out a room in the first year of ownership.
It also wants to unlock more land for housing via streamlined planning and liaising with local government.
Is the Gabba back on the Olympic venue list?
Mr Crisafulli says he wants an independent Olympic review body appointed within a month.
“I’m looking forward to working with the panel and I want to make sure it involves people who are well regarded, well respected,” he said.
Does that mean he’d override his no-new-stadiums vow if they back Graham Quirk’s recommendation to build an arena at Victoria Park?
“I’d like to think the people we put around that table will deliver a plan that every single Queenslander will embrace, including me,” the new premier said yesterday.
Make of that what you will.
But really, it’s about crime
The premier acknowledged yesterday that the most controversial aspect of his new crime bill was likely to be setting a minimum mandatory sentence for murder for youth offenders.
He argues this will be a significant deterrent for youth offenders.
“There will always be victims of crime, but there has to be less of them.”
But Mr Crisafulli has acknowledged that effectively addressing this complex problem must be about more than tougher sentencing, pointing out he’s spent more time on the campaign trail talking about early intervention than he has about tougher sentencing.
Loading…
He says they want to target youth crime “at every single step along the journey”.
But once again, many key measures here will take months to implement.
In September, Mr Crisafulli said the current approach to youth crime was broken “because early intervention has taken a back seat”.
The LNP’s “gold standard” early-intervention program to address youth crime has $15 million allocated this financial year then $45 million a year for the next three years.
Two youth justice schools for teenagers on youth justice orders will be funded to the tune of $20 million a year for the next two years, though election costings released last week allocate no money to these schools beyond 2025-26.
A further $10 million a year over the next four years has been promised for the establishment of four early-intervention schools to be a circuit breaker for young people deemed at high risk of becoming youth offenders.
Outgoing Labor treasurer Cameron Dick has suggested more money would be needed to keep these initiatives operational.
“I can tell you it costs $80 million to build a primary school,” he said in September.
No doubt we’ll hear him say it again before 100 days are done.
Loading…
link