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AAP
AAP
National
Laine Clark

Demand for progress in youth justice reform in Qld

Ben Cannon says a royal commission may be needed to address youth justice failings in Qld. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

A deadline has been given to Queensland Premier Steven Miles by a protest group demanding action on rising youth crime.

The Voice for Victims advocacy group says Mr Miles has two weeks to provide a report on the state government's progress on the issue, or it will step up its campaign.

The group's founder Ben Cannon said if their concerns were not addressed they would push for a royal commission into the government's handling of what has been described as a youth crime crisis.

Mr Cannon said they would "speak with their feet" and hold more rallies if not happy with the response after the January 19 deadline.

But ultimately he believed a royal commission may be needed for youth justice reform in Queensland.

"The only place we may be left with is letting a royal commission blow this up," Mr Cannon told AAP.

"There are so many layers of social justice and community failures that the government has allowed to happen on their watch that this has to be torn apart if it is ever going to get better.

"The premier has two weeks to work out whether he wants to be brave enough to make the right decision."

Mr Miles spoke on Monday with Voice for Victims for the first time since taking over as premier from Annastacia Palaszczuk.

"Unless the new government understands that this needs some real leadership, some real courage from him, then what we end up with is the same bureaucracy that we had with the last premier," Mr Cannon said.

Voice for Victims has held several meetings with the government since September and has won some changes.

It includes a recent $200 million boost in financial assistance for victims of crime, with the upper limit reset to $120,000, from $75,000.

The state government, which has been under pressure over a rise in youth crime, also introduced a raft of controversial new laws that included allowing children to be held in police watchhouses.

However Mr Cannon said a sticking point was the make-up of a 17-strong independent ministerial advisory council (IMAC), claiming it was too big to make timely resolutions.

Another was the group's demand for a zero tolerance approach to repeat youth offenders.

"I think the new premier wants to be different. I think the premier wants to make his mark," Mr Cannon said of Mr Miles.

Mr Cannon said there had been resistance from the premier's director-general Mike Kaiser.

"We are worried that the bureaucracy is going to get in the way of Steven Miles' good intentions," he said.

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