Queensland's government has passed controversial youth crime laws that override the state's Human Rights Act, allowing children to be charged for breaching bail. The legislation, approved on Thursday night after three days of parliamentary debate, also expands electronic monitoring for children as young as 15 and provides an additional $9m to assist victims of crime.
The police minister, Mark Ryan, said the state now had “some of the strongest, toughest and most comprehensive youth justice laws in the nation”, resulting in “more young people detained and for longer periods”. He argued the bill would ensure serious repeat offenders were held accountable and face “swift and serious consequences”. The opposition leader, David Crisafulli, said the Liberal National party largely supported the changes, although his attempt to scrap the principle of detention as a last resort failed.
The Greens MP Michael Berkman accused the government of driving “a baseless, media-driven response that suspends the Human Rights Act on four occasions to deny children their rights”, calling the legislation “disgraceful”. However, the youth justice minister, Leanne Linard, said the government had a responsibility to keep the community safe and had not taken the decision to override the Human Rights Act lightly. She announced an extra $100m for frontline services to help vulnerable families and young people.
The passage of the bill drew alarm from human rights organisations. Mena Waller, Queensland state director of Save the Children, said “today we have witnessed a serious decline in children's rights in Queensland”, and urged the government to reverse “this dreadful course” and focus on early intervention, diversion and rehabilitation. The Queensland human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, had previously warned that “public anxiety” was “no justification” to suspend the Human Rights Act.
The debate took place as it was reported that a 13-year-old First Nations boy remanded for minor offences had been kept in solitary confinement in a youth detention centre for at least 45 days. Linard told the ABC that the boy had attended programs and interacted with peers and staff, though she could not say when or for how long he had been separated.
