‘End the madness’: McMurdo unleashes on youth crime chaos

In an open letter to Qld politicians, Margaret McMurdo slams the “law and order” focus on young offenders. But the Acting Premier says some of the criticism is unfair.

• Open letter: Read in full

The respected mind Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk turns to for major legal reviews has pleaded with her to “abandon the madness” in youth justice and keep children out of watch houses.

Margaret McMurdo, the former Court of Appeal president, has penned an open letter to Ms Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli after extraordinary new laws stripping children of their rights were rushed through parliament last week without consultation.

Ms McMurdo is a respected confidant of the Palaszczuk government and has undertaken major work including leading the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce and delivering its landmark Hear Her Voice report.

She has now urged both sides of politics to ditch the heavy-handed approach to youth justice, declaring offending was “a complex issue with no quick fixes”.

“Sound youth justice policy takes time to work and to be assessed,” she said.

“For the sake of our victims, our troubled young people and all Queensland taxpayers, I implore the premier and the leader of the opposition to abandon the madness of the current law and order youth justice action.

“Prevention, early intervention and rehabilitation in the community is the most effective way to reduce youth crime.”

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer last week said the changes relating to young offenders and watch-houses were drafted amid advice from the Solicitor-General, and was needed after a Supreme Court challenge by advocates revealed the practice of holding children in watch houses may have been unlawful for the past 30 years.

Ms McMurdo, who along with the late former premier Mike Ahern is a patron of the Justice Reform Initiative, hoped his death would inspire both sides of politics to work towards a solution.

“In the spirit of that bipartisanship, good governance, Ahern’s legacy of integrity, and for the sake of victims and young offenders, I call on both sides of politics in Queensland to end the race to the bottom on youth justice issues and instead jointly adopt policies that are known to work,” she said.

“There are children who have committed such serious offences that they must be detained in the interests of community safety. But many children currently adding to the numbers in youth detention are best rehabilitated and supervised in the community.

“There is no need to abandon long established youth justice principles and lock them up in watch houses.”

Former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo

Ms Farmer said the government was committed to “evidence-based early intervention and diversion programs to keep young people out of detention”.

“However, young people who offend will be held accountable, which is why we have the toughest youth justice legislation in the nation,” she said.

“The urgent amendments passed in Parliament last week ensure continuation of a long-established practice, which allows capacity at detention centres to be safely managed while young people are temporarily held for short periods in watch houses.

“This means access to programs and services, such as rehabilitation, education and health programs, are not severely curtailed and the potential for significant violence from overcrowding is reduced.”

Ms Farmer said the government “makes no apologies” for empowering police and the courts to ensure community safety.

The establishment of a victims of crime commissioner was a “welcome and much needed start” to support people affected by crime, Ms McMurdo also acknowledged.

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.

Queensland’s youth detention centres are operating at 95.5 per cent capacity, significantly higher than the Australian average of 57.7 per cent.

“Even the Northern Territory with its unhappy youth justice history and the next highest youth detention operating capacity, is only at 57.8 per cent,” Ms McMurdo said.

“Tasmania has recently announced the closure of its youth detention centre to be replaced with a therapeutic model of care.”

Acting Premier Steven Miles said he had left a message with Ms McMurdo’s office. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Scott Powick

Acting Premier Steven Miles said two new youth detention centres were under construction, with the government “fast tracking them as fast as we can”.

At a media conference on Monday morning, Mr Miles said he had already left a message with Ms McMurdo offering to discuss the government’s position and has asked Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer to meet with her this week.

“We have the greatest respect for Margaret McMurdo,” the Acting Premier said.

“Obviously, we share many of the sentiments – we are investing in rehabilitation, we are investing in community programs, we are investing in intervention and prevention and those programs are working.

“So it’s not fair to say that we aren’t focused on that. But what we also have is a group of violent repeat offenders who police are concerned are a safety risk to the community and we can make no apologies for having detention available where police believe somebody is a violent risk of repeat offending.”