The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, says crime is “not clearly worsening” after the release of new police data that showed significant spikes in assaults and domestic violence offending.
The state opposition and several media reports have called the crime data the worst in two decades – highlighting raw numbers that showed more total offences committed in 2023 than any other year since 2000.
Total crime rates – which account for population growth – have increased marginally most years for the past decade, with the exception of the Covid years of 2020 and 2021. These rates remain below levels from the mid-2000s.
Miles told reporters on Wednesday that new offences, policing tactics and changes to the way data was collected meant it was “not accurate to simply take the overall number and interpret in the way that some have”.
“For example, there have been changes in the way those statistics are collected to include domestic violence offences that weren’t included in the past,” he said.
The Queensland police service has previously said that up to 40% of total calls for service – and up to 60% in some districts – relate to domestic and family violence.
The numbers of recorded offences for breaches of domestic violence protection orders has increased almost tenfold since 2001. In 2023, police recorded more than 61,000 breaches of those orders.
Assaults were the primary driver of increases to total offences. The data shows assault rates have doubled since 2020.
Miles said increased numbers of police would have contributed to the increase.
“Those police are doing their jobs [and] that is resulting in an increasing number of reports of crime and an increasing number of arrests,” he said.
“We want them to do that; that is a good thing, because that is what we employ our police to do, to keep people safe, to take reports of crime, investigate them and arrest offenders with the maximum number of offences that have occurred.”
The state opposition leader, David Crisafulli, focused his attention on an increase to the number of car thefts – categorised as “unlawful use of a motor vehicle” – in the statistics.
“More than 20,000 vehicles were stolen in Queensland,” Crisafulli said. “That is uncharted territory and a record that nobody wants to see.”
• In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org
