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Queensland Premier David Crisafulli has claimed a partial victory, releasing figures showing fewer victims of crime in the state than when the LNP took power.
But all may not be as it seems – new figures trumpeted by the government are not quite comparing apples to apples.
Surrounded by senior police on Tuesday morning, Crisafulli announced victim numbers had fallen 5.7 per cent statewide on a per-capita basis.
Premier David Crisafulli said crime victim numbers have already fallen during his term. Credit: Photograph Joe Ruckli | Australian Financial Review
Robbery was down 13.2 per cent, car theft was down 6.4 per cent and break and enters were down 12 per cent.
Total victims fell from 75,084 to 72,588.
“If you’re asking whether or not I’m popping champagne corks, we’re a long way off,” he told reporters.
“We haven’t even put it on ice.
“This is a very small step forward after 10 years of excuses, rising crime, and a youth crime crisis that has gripped every part of the state.”
Crisafulli promised during an election leaders’ debate last year to resign if total victim numbers did not fall during his first term, later qualifying the pledge to be on a per-capita basis.
The figures spruiked on Tuesday were from a biannual Queensland Police crime report, rather than the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
They did not include the category “other theft” – which includes stealing from homes, businesses, vehicles and other locations – despite it accounting for more youth crime than any other category, and increasing by the largest amount year-on-year.
He said this was because such thefts may not always have a victim.
“I wouldn’t be standing here saying to you that someone who’s pinched a marker from the side of the road should be treated … that’s not a victim,” Crisafulli said.
“That data’s always been included in some of the ABS stats, but in the spirit of transparency, we thought we’d give you the ones that do relate to the victims.”
The recently released 2023-24 police crime report noted this offence category made up 51 per cent of all offences against property, and almost one quarter – the largest single category – of offending by children.
“Other theft … has consistently been the most prevalent offence type for child offenders every year since 2014–15,” the report says.
During estimates, opposition leader Steven Miles asked Department of Premier and Cabinet director general Damien Walker if he had recommended “other theft” be excluded from the figures released on Tuesday.
“That’s not my recollection,” Walker said.
Crisafulli interjected to say the victim numbers would have been even lower had “other theft” been included, with the category seeing a reduction of more than 6 per cent.
Miles, the former premier, was scathing.
“Tens of thousands of Queenslanders are no longer considered victims in the eyes of David Crisafulli,” he said in a statement.
“His victim data isn’t worth the paper that it’s printed on, because he’s cut corners, cherry-picked, and removed offences that should matter.
“Victims of other theft could be the local independent grocer who has had stock swiped from their shelves, or someone who’s had items stolen from their car.”
Crisafulli said he still backed the ABS methodology not used, but defended the new government dataset by saying the former’s release schedule would only allow two years’ worth of comparative data for Queenslanders to judge the government.
He also conceded that some elements of the other theft category likely featured victims and “absolutely, we should look at that”.
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