“The basic facts about youth crime in Australia, including Queensland, is that the number of young people getting into trouble with police has been going down every year.” – Ross Homel, Foundation Professor in Criminology, Griffith University.

The results of the 2024 Queensland election left both Labor and the LNP with reasons to feel pleased. Labor has governed Queensland for 22 of the past 25 years so the “It’s Time” factor was operating powerfully in favour of the LNP. Between 1998 and 2012, Labor won five elections in a row, and then were annihilated in the Cambell Newman landslide of 2012 when they were reduced to seven seats while the LNP won 78 seats. Labor, who were going for their fourth win in a row in 2024, were fearing a similar devastation, which did not eventuate, with the party holding an unexpected thirty-plus seats.

The minor parties, apart from the Greens, had pleasing results. The Katter Party won three seats and may pick up another. Both One Nation and Legalise Cannabis performed at a level that give them a chance of contending with the Katter Party for the sixth Senate seat in the 2025 Federal election.

The Greens look likely to lose their two seats, South Brisbane and Maiwar. They had hoped to hold these two, and pick up several more, and they will be disappointed. They won South Brisbane previously because the LNP strategically preferenced the Greens to remove the Labor member Jackie Trad, who was Queensland’s........

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