Mr HAMILTON (Groom) (10:34): I’m very happy to speak on this bill, because today we are seeing Toowoomba’s voice heard. We are seeing Oakey’s voice and Pittsworth’s voice heard. Right across our region, this has been raised with me by locals as a great example of a grassroots campaign being adopted as Liberal Party policy. The people in my region have had enough of this youth crime crisis. It’s been tearing through our region for far too long now, and people expect action from all levels of government on this. This was a true grassroots campaign, and I want to thank the people who started this off—Helen Bell and Jo Noble, working with the Voices of Victims group. They raised this with Trevor Watts, the state member for Toowoomba North. He saw that this fell into federal jurisdiction, and he raised it with me. Through a private member’s bill that I brought to this place over a year ago I’ve continued to advocate for this. I’ve given the Labor government and the crossbench every opportunity to be involved in this conversation. They’ve offered no solutions. They’ve not wanted to be involved at all. I’m very happy to be bringing this forward.
Mr Katter: What have you done about relocation?
Mr HAMILTON: What are you doing about supporting this bill, Bob? If you want to get serious about this, people expect every level of government to be involved in this. I’m very happy to say that I have listened to the voices on the ground. People who rejected those voices and turned their back now want to interject and pretend they have some reasonable part in this.
This has been tearing apart of our communities, and this bill seeks to end the cycle of youth crime. We have seen this become a key recruitment tool. Kids as young as eight years old are watching these videos and then coming out and doing copycat versions of their own, committing the crimes.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Georganas): The member of Kennedy, on a point of order.
Mr Katter: I am being misrepresented. He accused me of doing nothing about this bill. We—
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Kennedy will resume his seat. The member for Groom, in continuation.
Mr HAMILTON: We are seeing exactly the problem here. People’s voices on the ground are not being listened to. I’m very happy to have taken this from the ground. It is now Liberal Party policy. I do not want to see more kids in detention. Nobody does. I want fewer kids committing these crimes, so we need to take steps to make sure that happens.
Thank you very much, Helen, and thank you very much, Jo, for raising this with me. Thank you to the very excellent members for Herbert and Bowman, who have stood side by side on the issue knowing that it was supported all the way through. Thank you to the shadow minister and thank you to Peter Dutton, who are willing to stand up and show we are quite happy to be tough on crime and to look after the people we are here to represent.
Debate adjourned.
