But the government has for years been on a “race to the bottom” with the LNP to appear tougher on youth crime
I think this is pretty spot-on. It's disgusting that the Queensland Labor government cares more about kowtowing to what will make it harder for the LNP to wedge them than they do about actually listening to the experts and helping to improve the lives of children in disadvantaged communities.
And for what? Their ratings are still low. Nobody who is going to be convinced to vote for the LNP because of their ignorance on this issue is going to see Labor following suit and decide to stick with Labor. They're going to hear "crime is so bad and Labor's not doing anything!" and not look into it any further. Labor's doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason, and is unlikely to even get the benefits of that wrong reason.