Don’t blame the courts Anna – your laws let him out

PREMIER Anna Bligh has been told to stop blaming the courts for releasing dangerous repeat sex offender Andrew Clive Ellis.

LNP Shadow Police & Corrective Services Minister John-Paul Langbroek said police had been left with the mess of chasing Ellis down yesterday after a multitude of failures allowed him to walk from custody an allegedly attack a female jogger.

“It’s appalling for the Premier to lash out at the courts over this matter – when it’s her government’s lax laws that have allowed Ellis to be released from jail,” Mr Langbroek said.

“What doesn’t this Premier understand about the separation of powers under the Westminster system of government – she and the long-term Labor government have made the laws which the court was operating under.

“Anna Bligh and Labor have refused time and again to support LNP calls for tougher laws that would ensure that all dangerous sex offenders like Ellis remained in jail until they had successfully completed rehabilitation courses so that they no longer posed a risk to the community.

“Anna Bligh and Labor have again failed Queenslanders and her attempt to blame the courts and the judges was pathetic,” Mr Langbroek said.

“Labor has been in power for 20 years. The sole reason Ellis was allowed out, with or without a GPS tracker, was because of Labor’s weak sentencing and parole laws that do not compel dangerous sex offenders to successfully complete rehab.

“Anna Bligh, Paul Lucas and Neil Roberts have comprehensively failed the people of Queensland.

“They and their long-term Labor government are responsible for allowing a dangerous sex predator, with a long criminal record and a history of drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems, to walk from jail to re-offend.

“Labor’s weak laws and lax security allowed this to happen, not the courts.

“It’s time for change. It’s time to get Queensland back on track.”