Jury out on power drunk Palaszczuk Government

Hinchinbrook MP and KAP Deputy Leader, Nick Dametto.

28 July 2023

Hinchinbrook MP and KAP Deputy Leader, Nick Dametto, has labelled the State Government’s recent attacks on Queensland courts as cowardly and an erosion of the independence of the judiciary from the political arms of government.

Recent media regarding a Townsville father who had his vehicle allegedly chased and rammed by machete wielding youth offenders in a stolen car was met with a standard response from the Police Minister spruiking Queensland’s ‘tough on youth crime laws’.

Regrettably, the Minister’s comments went a step further to lay the blame for youth crime at the hands of the courts by saying “…the government has given the courts all of the tools they need to hold offenders to account, it’s up to the courts to use them.”

Mr Dametto said this wasn’t the first time a Government Minister had verbally and publicly attacked the judiciary, with several other Ministers directing unfavourable comments at the court system earlier this year.

“It’s extremely worrying that Government, and now the Police Commissioner, feel they are entitled to pass public, and quite frankly, false judgement about how the Queensland Courts do their job,” Mr Dametto said.

“You can’t argue, some pretty weak sentences have been handed down in the last six years, but our courts can only work within the constraints of the law, and those Labor laws are at best flaccid.

“Labor can’t keep the judiciary shackled like a dancing bear for years and then expect half-baked legislative changes passed too late in the day to have any significant impact on crime.

“Giving the courts the tools, they need to change the course of youth crime in Queensland requires a bit more than fluffing around the edges from this Government. If they want to guarantee better and consistent penalties, they need to look at mandatory minimum sentences, which is something the KAP has been calling for to ensure recidivist offenders are off the streets for at least 12 months.

“The Labor Government has fallen out of touch with Queensland and reality. Prioritising criminals and the UN’s human rights garbage over the rights of law-abiding citizens will be their undoing.

“Victims are crying out for harsher penalties and want to see inadequate sentences appealed and I couldn’t agree more.

“Funnily enough, any appeal, whether it be from the Director of Public Prosecutions or Police Prosecutions, must first receive the consent of Government bureaucrats, and surprise surprise, those people answer to Palaszczuk Government Ministers.

“Labor are blaming the judiciary for their own failures, and that’s just gutless.

“If the Government has any intentions of making our streets safe again, then they need to get serious, running political interference and taking cheap shots at precedents they helped create helps none of us living this hell.”

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