The Liberal National Party is targeting law and order issues in north Queensland to show it will crack down on rising crime rates if it wins the November 25 state election.
A police helicopter based in Townsville, a 12-month trial giving officers greater powers during pursuits and a controversial child curfew trial have been promised.
LNP leader Tim Nicholls announced his law and order strategy during his first campaign trip outside the state's southeast on Thursday.
"One of the biggest issues that has been raised with us over the last 12 months has been the issue of the ever-increasing crime rate," he told reporters.
The opposition leader accused Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of taking a "soft on crime" approach which had resulted in a rise in assaults, car theft and break and enters.
The LNP's $25.9 million North Queensland Crime Action Plan proposes a year-long trial that would put power back into the hands of Townsville police to engage in pursuits resulting from car thefts and hooning offences.
If effective, the new pursuit policy would be rolled out to other regions identified by police.
Under the plan, a police helicopter would also be permanently stationed in Townsville and service the state's north, at a cost of $10 million over three-and-a-half years.
The measures are part of a wider plan to reduce crime in the region, which includes an early intervention rehabilitation program for at-risk youths and a trial curfew for children under 16 caught roaming the streets of Townsville.
The $1.3 million, six-month curfew would result in children being collected by police and kept at emergency accommodation shelters until they could be safely returned to their parents.
In the event parents could not pick up their children, Mr Nicholls said they would be processed into the child safety system.
Mr Nicholls said many US cities and Perth's inner-city entertainment precinct of Northbridge had curfews, as did Iceland, which now had "some of the world's cleanest-living teens".
Mr Nicholls said he would also work with the federal government to freeze the welfare payments of parents whose children are behind bars.
"The Townsville community is crying out for action and leadership on this issue and is sick to death of these young criminals running amok with impunity," he said in a statement.
Mr Nicholls would not reveal how his party would pay for the plan along with its payroll tax cut promise, but maintained he could "stabilise" debt without introducing new taxes, selling assets or forcing public sector redundancies.
Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath has slammed the curfew as a "lazy policy".
The tough on crime approach comes as the LNP tries to shore up support in the battleground region of Townsville, where the major parties are facing a threat from One Nation.
