Qld could be forced into big pay outs after youth justice move, lawyers warn
Extraordinary new laws stripping children of their rights will open the state government up to civil claims and potential pay outs, leading lawyers warn.
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Extraordinary new laws stripping children of their rights will open the state government up to civil claims and potential pay outs, leading lawyers have warned.
The warning comes at Australia’s children’s commissioner said the laws pushed through by the state government were a sign of “something seriously wrong” and a “system in crisis”.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance, in a statement on Friday, warned suspending the human rights act was “deeply troubling” and gave the government the green light to “inflict cruelty on children through indefinite detention” in inherently dangerous conditions.
ALA spokesman Greg Barns SC said the policy would lead “inevitably to civil claims for abuse by the state”.
“It is very disappointing that the Queensland government has not learnt the lessons of history - the evidence of the damage done by governments over many decades to children in institutions,” he said.
The new youth justice changes mean children can be held in watch houses indefinitely with no human rights law recourse.
A watch house or adult prison can also be declared a youth detention centre, with human rights law overridden to make this happen.
The state government has maintained the urgent changes were needed after a Supreme Court challenge by advocates revealed the practice of holding children in watch houses may have been unlawful for the last 30 years.
The recent strengthening of youth justice laws, such as making breach of bail an offence, has led to child detention rates skyrocketing in Queensland, with the state’s three youth prisons operating at near-capacity constantly.
National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds said the rushed laws were alarming, not based on evidence, and would not keep the community safer.
“On any level - surely this is a sign of something seriously wrong. This is a system in crisis. And the community is not safer,” she said.
“This latest development in Queensland is further evidence that Australia’s youth justice systems are in full blown crisis, and that harsh punitive measures are not keeping the community safer.
“In fact, the states with the toughest youth crime laws are the ones having the biggest problems.”
Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said there is likely a basis for many children to bring claims against the state, but they lacked the resources to do so.
”There is definitely litigation that can be brought it’s whether it will be brought,” she said.
Palaszczuk blasted as worse than Newman after youth justice move
The Australian Lawyers Alliance warning comes after it was revealed Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has not met with her government’s own human rights commissioner for nearly five years.
In a blistering criticism of the government’s “mockery” of the parliamentary process, Queensland Human Rights Commission boss Scott McDougall said he had not met with Ms Palaszczuk despite repeated attempts.
He warned the latest move to override human rights laws in order to hold young offenders indefinitely in watch-houses, and to declare those places youth detention centres, meant captive male pigs now had more welfare protection than children behind bars.
Emergency law changes, ranging from decriminalising public drunkenness to saving a mining town and stripping children in watch-houses of their human rights, were passed in parliament on Thursday – just 24 hours after being introduced.
The changes circumvented proper scrutiny, with the opposition and crossbench caught off guard, revealing the government had not afforded them the usual briefing.
The KAP and Greens described the move as reminiscent of – or worse than – the Newman government’s processes.
Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer confirmed the changes relating to young offenders and watch-houses were drafted over the weekend amid advice from the Solicitor-General.
Prominent child advocates across the nation and the state – including the Queensland Family and Child Commission, the Justice Reform Initiative and Amnesty International – unanimously pilloried the changes.
The Queensland Law Society said the way the changes, as a whole, were put through “undermines the Constitution of Queensland requirement for examination and scrutiny of new laws”.
Under the new youth justice changes, children can be held in watch-houses indefinitely with no human rights law recourse. A watch-house or adult prison can also be declared a youth detention centre, with human rights law overridden to make this happen.
Before these law changes, children were covered by human rights law in watch-houses and the option to hold children in adult prisons was not available.
“We now have a situation in Queensland law where boars – male pigs – will have better welfare protections than children as young as 10,” Mr McDougall said.
“This is a new low in the democratic record.”
Animal care and protection laws state a person in charge of a boar must ensure it is released from its stall no less than twice a week for exercise.
Mr McDougall said he had attempted over at least the last 4½ years to engage with Ms Palaszczuk’s office on youth justice laws, which he regarded “as the most serious human rights issue in Queensland”.
“(I have) yet to meet the Premier,” he said.
“And the responses have either been perfunctory or redirected to another minister.”
When asked why Ms Palaszczuk had not met with Mr McDougall, a spokeswoman for Ms Palaszczuk’s office said the Queensland Human Rights Commission fell “within the portfolio of the Attorney-General” and the minister met with him regularly.
“We value the role of the Queensland Human Rights Commission, and appreciate their ongoing contribution to human rights in Queensland,” she said.
Ms Farmer said the changes were necessary amid a nearly successful Supreme Court challenge against the practise of holding children in watch-houses, which could have resulted in a sudden surge in detention centre populations.
She said the changes were about keeping “business as usual”, with the government believing “it’s highly unlikely” it would have to use the new powers.
The recent strengthening of youth justice laws – such as making breach of bail an offence – has led to child detention rates skyrocketing in Queensland, with the three youth prisons operating at near-capacity constantly.
Two new youth detention centres are being built, but they won’t be ready until 2026.
Ms Farmer indicated the newly constructed Caboolture watch-house could be used to hold children.
The opposition described the government’s move as an “egregious breach of parliamentary process”, while KAP leader Robbie Katter said it was “insulting”.
“Even in the Newman government when the bikie laws were rushed through, we still had an emergency briefing, staffers came to us recognising it was all lumped on us at the last minute,” he said.
“It doesn’t speak well of the government’s actions here.”
Greens MP Michael Berkman said the government was “putting the Newman LNP government to shame”.
“This is a cowardly manoeuvre. This is them sidestepping the very bare minimum processes of scrutiny that the committee system offers,” he said.
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