MEDIA RELEASE: One Nation Seeks Answers on Rockliff Government's Youth Justice Plans
MEDIA RELEASE ONE NATION SEEKS ANSWERS ON ROCKLIFF GOVERNMENT'S YOUTH JUSTICE PLANS
One Nation Tasmania has written to Premier Jeremy Rockliff seeking answers to 11 questions about the Government’s youth justice commitments and their implications for serious offences, bail, sentencing and community safety. A written response has been requested by 24 November 2026.
The letter comes weeks after police arrested six children aged 12 and 13 over alleged assaults in the Hobart CBD, and the City of Hobart put safety officers on the streets of the city amid reports of groups of young people causing trouble.
One Nation Tasmania Leader Lee Hanson said Tasmanians needed tougher laws now, and the Liberals were planning to make them softer.
“People tell me they won’t catch a bus at night anymore. Parents tell me they think twice about taking their kids into the Mall. Shop owners are dealing with the same young offenders walking through the door again and again,” Ms Hanson said.
“Every week it seems there’s another assault in a bus mall or a shopping strip somewhere in Tasmania. Hobart now has council safety officers patrolling the city. One CBD business owner told the ABC these kids know they’re untouchable and there are no consequences. His concerns deserve to be heard.
“Our laws need to be stronger, and they need to be stronger now. Instead, this soft-on-crime Liberal Government wants to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14, end detention for anyone under 16 even on remand, maximise bail and make it harder for courts to impose curfews. The Government must explain how community safety will be protected.
“In September police arrested six children aged 12 and 13 over alleged assaults in the city. Under the Liberals’ plan, police couldn’t charge a young offender that age, whatever they’d done. Not for assault, not for armed robbery, not even for murder.
“The Premier has promised to deliver every one of the Commission of Inquiry’s 191 recommendations. The Commission was right to expose what happened to children in detention. How this state deals with violent young offenders is a separate question, and the Government hasn’t been upfront with Tasmanians about it.
“When an adult is sentenced, protecting the community is a primary consideration. For young offenders, the law already puts rehabilitation ahead of any other single factor, and the Liberals have signed up to push that further. Community safety should come first, full stop.
“Last month One Nation asked the Premier whether he was keeping these commitments or abandoning them, and we are still waiting. He told Parliament a discussion paper on the review of the Youth Justice Act would be out by June. It’s now November. If the Government is confident in this plan, I can’t see why it’s sitting on it.
“Scrap the plan to raise the age, toughen bail for repeat offenders and put community safety first in sentencing. Tasmanians need those changes now, not after another review. Clear decisions and timely action.
“If the Liberals won’t fix this, Tasmanians need someone in Parliament who will.”
One Nation Tasmania will:
• Reject any move to raise minimum age of criminal responsibility or the minimum age of detention.
• Put community safety first in sentencing for serious violent crime, with stronger consequences for repeat offenders.
• Remove the “detention as a last resort” provision from the Youth Justice Act, to ensure courts can respond appropriately to serious violent and repeat offending.
• End revolving-door bail, with tougher bail laws for repeat offenders, electronic monitoring and curfews for serious offences, and next-day court hearings for breaches.
ENDS
