By Ashley Nickel For Daily Mail Australia
11:31 09 Jun 2023, updated 12:32 09 Jun 2023
- Annastacia Palaszczuk spotted in Sydney
- The Queensland premier is facing a youth crime crisis
- Was snapped strolling with her boyfriend
‘Part-time premier’ Annastacia Palaszczuk has been spotted enjoying the start of the long weekend in Sydney as Queensland grapples with a youth crime epidemic that has spiralled out of control.
Sydneysiders were on Friday afternoon shocked when they spotted the Queensland premier,53, wandering arm-in-arm with her surgeon boyfriend Dr Reza Adib, 50, around Circular Quay, after a gruesome stabbing near Brisbane left a mother and daughter fighting critical injuries and a teenage boy behind bars.
She was dressed in all-black outfit accessorised with black shoes and handbag to match her partner as the couple enjoyed the sights of Sydney Harbour.
Dr Adib was pictured placing a protective arm around his partner’s back, a day after she shared harrowing details about a miscarriage she suffered at home many years ago before she entered politics.
It’s been 12 months since she earned the ‘part-time premier’ moniker after Labor insiders divulged the 53-year-old appeared more focused on glitzy red carpet events than leading the state.
Ms Palaszczuk jetted off to the NSW capital with her partner as more desperate Queenslanders call for serious action against rising youth crime.
The latest in a string of alleged violent youth crime incidents hit a family home in Rosewood, Ipswich, on Thursday night.
Queensland Police have charged a 16-year-old boy, who lived with the family, with two counts of attempted murder.
Police responded to a triple-zero call from one of the victims at about 10.30pm.
‘Upon arrival police located a 39-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl who both had numerous stab wounds to the abdomen,’ police said in a statement.
The pair underwent surgery on Friday morning, both remain in critical conditions.
The teenager will face Ipswich Childrens Court.
It comes after a 10-year-old girl issued a passionate plea for the Premier to take action to address youth crime.
The little girl wrote a heartbreaking letter to Ms Palaszczuk this week after her dance school in Townsville, in the state’s north, was burnt down – allegedly by youth offenders.
‘Young criminals break into houses, steal cars and destroy lives every single night in this city – every single night – I’m telling you right now I’m not safe,’ Samantha’s letter, seen by Today, reads.
‘Children in Townsville are not safe, we are not safe in our own homes, even with doors locked they still find their way in.
‘Please tell me what you are doing to make a difference, because right now I’m not looking forward to growing up, working hard to buy a house and a car, raise a family, when all of it can just be taken away in an instant by someone who ruins lives every single night.’
Ms Palaszczuk’s office has not yet replied to Samantha’s letter.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Palaszczuk’s office for comment.
Palaszczuk’s government introduced a range of measures in March to crackdown on youth offending including a law to make breach of bail a crime for children.
Queensland Police arrested 600 young people for 1,200 offences within a month of the law passing – including 73 who were charged with breach of bail, the ABC reported last month.
The government has also invested in a $10million regional trial of engine immobilisers and a new aggravation consideration for car thieves who brag about their crimes online.
‘Both sides of politics voted for these stronger laws. They are the strongest laws in Australia that have been put in place,’ Palaszczuk told reporters in May.
‘They will take time to come into effect. We are throwing a lot of money at this as well, over $1.3billion dollars.
‘We’re building more youth detention centres across the state; we are putting more money into early intervention and prevention.’
On Thursday, Ms Palaszczuk divulged the deeply painful details of a miscarriage as she responded to a Queensland woman’s horrific hospital experience.
She spoke about the harrowing moment following claims a woman was left traumatised by the treatment she received at Ipswich hospital following a painful miscarriage.
The Premier’s miscarriage occurred before she went into politics.
‘I have also had a miscarriage… I do know exactly what it’s like,’ she told the Today show on Thursday.
‘It is horrific and stays with you for the rest of your life.
‘I had it in my house and I went to work, I was completely in shock and then I thought I’d better see my specialist and he said “I don’t think you should be at work, you should be at home”.’
Ms Palaszczuk was forced to shoot down claims of her part-time premier status a year ago after Labor insiders claimed she had ‘checked out’ of her role and showed more interest in attending social events than running Queensland.
The claims emerged after Ms Palaszczuk and her boyfriend attended the premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s film Elvis.
Days later, the Premier was pictured letting her hair down at a race meet at Eagle Farm before attending the Logies on the Gold Coast where she was grilled by reporters on the red carpet
‘I work seven days a week,’ Ms Palaszczuk said at the time.
‘I’ve got a budget coming down, I’m across that, and I’ll be back at my desk first thing tomorrow morning.
‘And most of these events are on weekends so, we could be at home watching television but we’re out here doing the job Queenslanders expect me to be doing.’
The premier also joined 50,000 screaming fans when Harry Styles performed at Heritage Bank Stadium on the Gold Coast in March as part of his nationwide tour.
Photos supplied to Daily Mail Australia by a concertgoer showed the Labor leader trying to make a low-key entrance as she arrived at the venue flanked by Dr Adib.
It came less than fortnight after she came under fire for posting photos and posing with locals while attending Chinchilla’s Melon Festival.
Days earlier, she repeatedly declined invitations to meet Toowoomba residents at a crisis meeting to tackle the town’s out of control crime wave, which is a two hour drive away.