The committee,made up of three government and three LNP members with a casting vote forLabor’s chair Linus Power,is due to provide a final written report to parliament by Friday in which it will recommend the bill be passed into law by parliament,changed,or dumped.
Last week,the committee held public hearings in Brisbane,Townsville and Cairns in which it heard from victims of crime,regional mayors,and experts in the legal,human rights and the youth support space.
Many of the latter groups urged the bill beabandoned or at least put on hold,warning many of the short-term measures would only further harm community safety in the long term and drag more vulnerable often First Nations kids deeper into cycles of crime.
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Most victims spoke of a frustration with government support and a perception of lacking consequences for young offenders – shared by some councillors – which rose to calls for even tougher responses by some.
Speaking to reporters in his electorate of Logan on Sunday,Power declined to go into too much detail about his thoughts on the evidence presented to the committee – but did offer some insight.
“We did see some broad support for ... targeting those that are serious repeat offenders and that’s certainly a theme that came through,and that’s what this legislation has been focused on,” he said.