A step backwards for child justice and community safety in Queensland

The Queensland Government’s ‘Community Safety Act’ allowing more children to be locked up in the first instance is another step backwards for child justice and community safety, National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said. 

“We all want to live in communities where kids can flourish and where everyone is safe, especially children. But this approach to offending by children doesn’t work,” Commissioner Hollonds said. 

“The Queensland Government would serve the community and our children better if it put resources into addressing the underlying causes of children offending.

“Overturning the principle of detention as a last resort for children contravenes the international human rights standards for children that Australia has agreed to.”

The Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that detention should only be used as a last resort, and for the shortest appropriate period of time. Instead we should be providing care which supports the rehabilitation and reintegration of children.

Despite knowing about the harmful impact of incarcerating children, which does not make communities safer, governments continue rely on a default punitive approach with detention applied as a first rather than as a last resort.

“It costs over $1 million a year to lock up a child, and most will continue to reoffend because their basic needs are not being met. This money should instead be spent on helping children and their families to address issues that are going wrong in their lives,” Ms Hollonds said.

In Queensland, the profiles of children involved in the child justice system include:

•    53% of children have experienced or been impacted by domestic and family violence, 
•    44% have a mental health and/or behavioural disorder (diagnosed or suspected), 
•    48% are disengaged from education, training or employment, 
•    25% have at least one parent who has spent time in adult custody, 
•    30% are in unstable and/or unsuitable accommodation,
•    44% have a disability (assessed or suspected) and
•    Compared to non-Indigenous children, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 27% times more likely to be held in youth justice custody.

Commissioner Hollonds reiterated her call for the Federal Government to show leadership in protecting Australian children. “We need international standards incorporated into domestic law so that the responsibilities of governments for the human rights of children are clear, right across the federation.

“Until then we cannot be confident about how vulnerable children will be treated when in the care of corrections or child justice authorities.” 

On Tuesday Commissioner Hollonds released a landmark report calling for significant reform of Australia’s approach to child justice and wellbeing - ‘Help way earlier!’: How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing. 

The report aims to help vulnerable children thrive and keep the community safe. The report includes real solutions for preventing offending by children based on evidence and human rights.

“The ‘tough on crime’ approach does not improve public safety. The truth about child justice is that we need to ‘help way earlier’ – and community safety will come from addressing child safety and wellbeing.”

Read more about the report. 

Statistics from Qld Department of Youth Justice, Youth Justice Pocket Stats March 2024

ENDS | Media contact: media@humanrights.gov.au or +61 457 281 897