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Queensland's premier has told the courts "to do their job" and enforce the harsher laws she has promised in a new youth crime crackdown following the alleged murder of a mother in her home.

Annastacia Palaszczuk has pledged to introduce a suite of tougher laws to parliament in February after British mother-of-two Emma Lovell was stabbed while defending her home from two teenage intruders on Boxing Day night. She later died in hospital.

Prison terms for car thieves will rise from seven to 10 years and those who steal cars at night, threaten or use violence, are armed or pretend to be armed, are with others, or damage or threaten property will face 14 years behind bars.

"Community safety has to come first here and we stand with the community members across Queensland," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Thursday.

"And I'll tell you now, we know a lot of people aren't going to like some of these announcements I'm making today and I'm going to stand by them and people will be able to judge us on that at the next election."

Judges will also have to take into account a child offender's previous bail history, crimes and track record when deciding on bail applications and slap them with increased penalties if they boast about their crimes on social media.

"Can I say this, I've gotta be upfront and be frank: The courts need to do their job, the courts need to do their job," the premier said.

The government will spend almost $10 million to speed up the sentencing of children before courts in Brisbane, Townsville, Southport and Cairns. The same amount will be spent trialling 20,000 engine immobilisers in Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa.

Assistant Police Commissioner George Marchesini has been appointed to the new role of Youth Crime Taskforce commander and two new youth detention centres will be built in Cairns and the southeast.

Ms Lovell's killing comes 14 months into the government's youth crime crackdown in which laws were changed to ensure courts made a presumption against bail for serious, repeat child offenders and have the power to fit them with GPS trackers.

Ms Palaszczuk could not say if the changes proposed on Thursday could have prevented Ms Lovell's death.

The Liberal National Party has called for breach of bail to be made an offence, while the Katter's Australian Party has called for children to be slapped with adult sentences for serious crimes, relocated to boot camps and for people to be legally protected from prosecution for their actions if they are defending their homes.

Ms Lovell's devastated husband Lee, who was stabbed in the back in what he called a "terrifying" encounter" at their North Lakes home, has called for policy changes to prevent other families suffering like he and his two daughters are.

"We're not the only family to be affected by this and things need to change," he told A Current Affair on Wednesday night.

Almost 40,000 people have signed a petition calling for mandatory bail refusal for "violent home invaders who repeat offend that use or have weapons regardless of age".

The Lovells had reportedly been in Australia for more than 10 years but were originally from Ipswich in the United Kingdom.

A fundraiser set up for the Lovell family had raised more than $58,000 of its $75,000 target on Thursday afternoon.

© PAA 2022

Queensland car thieves will face longer prison sentences, and more time if they steal cars while armed or at night or boast about it on social, under a fresh crackdown on youth crime following the alleged murder of a mother in her home.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will change the laws next year after British mother-of-two Emma Lovell was stabbed while defending her home from two teenagers on Boxing Day night.

Under the plan, car thieves will face 10 years behind bars, or 14 if they steal cars at night, threaten or use violence, are armed or pretend to be armed, are with others, or damage or threaten property.

Judges will also have to take into account a child offender's previous bail history, crimes and track record when sentencing, and slap youth offenders with increased penalties if they boast about their crimes on social media.

"Community safety has to come first here and we stand with the community members across Queensland," Ms Palaszczuk told reporters on Thursday.

"And I'll tell you now, we know a lot of people aren't going to like some of these announcements I'm making today and I'm going to stand by them, and people will be able to judge us on that at the next election."

The government will also spend almost $10 million to speed up the sentencing of children before courts in Brisbane, Townsville, Southport and Cairns, and spend the same amount trailing 20,000 engine immobilisers in Townsville, Cairns and Mount Isa.

Ms Lovell's killing comes 14 months into the government's youth crime crackdown in which laws were changed to ensure courts made a presumption against bail for serious, repeat child offenders and have the power to fit them with GPS trackers.

A devastated Mr Lovell, who was stabbed in the back in what he called a "terrifying" encounter, has been calling for policy changes to prevent other families from suffering like he and his two daughters are.

"We're not the only family to be affected by this and things need to change," he told A Current Affair on Wednesday night.

More than 36,000 people have also signed a petition calling for mandatory bail refusal "violent home invaders who repeat offend that use or have weapons regardless of age".

The Lovells had reportedly been in Australia for more than 10 years but were originally from Ipswich in the United Kingdom.

A fundraiser set up for the Lovell family had raised more than $57,000 of its $75,000 target by 12.30pm on Thursday.

© PAA 2022

Australia is continuing to monitor the COVID-19 crisis in China, after the United States and other countries said they would require inbound travellers to get tested before arrival.

The US has joined India, Italy, Japan and Taiwan in imposing the mandatory test requirement for arrivals from China after Beijing's decision to ease its strict virus policies.

"We will continue to monitor the situation there, as we do around the world, and will respond in accordance to health advice," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Seven's Sunrise on Thursday.

"At this point in time, there has been no change to the travel advice between China and Australia."

As of Thursday, the federal government was advising travellers to China to exercise a high degree of caution "due to ongoing local COVID-19 restrictions".

Currently, inbound travellers to China are required to have a negative test prior to departure and may be subject to quarantine or home monitoring upon arrival.

But on January 8, China will cease requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine in a major step toward easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020.

Chinese hospitals and funeral homes are under intense pressure off the back of a surging virus wave.

There are doubts over the accuracy of China's official data, prompting some countries overnight to enact new travel rules on Chinese visitors. China is also accused of not providing access to genomic sequencing on viral strains circulating in the country.

China earlier this month began dismantling the world's strictest regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting itself on course for a full reopening next year.

But now, from January 5 in the US, all air passengers aged two years and older will require a negative result no more than two days before departure from China, Hong Kong or Macao, health officials announced on Wednesday.

There are fears the rapid spread of the virus in China could result in the emergence of a new and more infectious variant.

China has nine domestically developed vaccines approved for use but none has been updated to target the highly infectious Omicron variant. At the same time, it has not yet authorised foreign mRNA vaccines.

Mr Albanese said it was important for Australians to get their COVID-19 vaccinations up to date.

"I give people a reminder again ... if you're eligible for a booster please get it," he told Nine's Today Show.

"Don't relax. COVID is still around."

Italy imposed its new testing requirements after more than half of the passengers on two flights arriving from China at Milan's main airport, Malpensa, tested positive.

Former DFAT Australia China scholar Andrew Phelan said it was a good idea for countries be cautious.

He told Sky News when Chinese New Year is celebrated in January, it would mean the largest internal migration in the world as people return to their home towns and the virus spread should be examined.

"I think the wise approach is to go slowly and cautiously ... There's a possibility of new strains, we don't know that and we need to monitor that," he said.

© AAP 2022