North Keppel Island to house youth offenders under One Nation crime diversion plan

A school camp on one of Queensland’s most idyllic islands will be turned into a low-security facility to ‘redirect’ young offenders from a life of crime under an audacious One Nation plan.

One Nation has revealed a proposal for a youth camp on North Keppel Island. Photo: Supplied.

A school camp on one of Queensland’s most idyllic islands will be turned into a low-security facility to “redirect” young offenders from a life of crime under an audacious One Nation plan.

One Nation’s youth justice plan, the party’s first major policy platform for the state election, will involve repurposing a 60-bed environmental education centre on North Keppel Island into a last ditch diversion program.

It comes a day after the party’s firebrand leader Senator Pauline Hanson announced her long-time right hand man James Ashby would run in the seat of Keppel, in a move expected to reinvigorate One Nation’s profile ahead of the October 2024 poll.

Youth crime, alongside pressures on the health and housing systems, is expected to be a key issue at the upcoming state election.

One Nation wants to repurpose an education centre on North Keppel Island to accommodate a youth crime diversion program. Photo: Supplied.

One Nation’s policy calls for a “change” to dealing with the government’s “catch and release” take on youth offenders, proposing a quick detention capacity solution by repurposing existing infrastructure.

Children, assessed by a court appointed psychologist for suitability, would be shipped off to the island 11km off Queensland’s coast to learn “self-control, time management, respect, listening and communication skills, problem solving, goal setting, anti-bullying, and a new sense of confidence”.

The Konomie Island Environmental Education Centre is run by the state government, with about 2500 students staying on the island for school camp each year to learn about climate change, First Nations culture and sustainable living.

The program would partner with park rangers to help “maintain the 18 Keppel islands”, with no barbed wire or fences around the facility designed as a “second chance program” to hold young offenders accountable for their actions.

One Nation has also made clear the party opposes national calls to increase the age of criminal responsibility, which in Queensland is currently the age of 10.

Senator Pauline Hanson and James Ashby at Parliament House. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“There’s a large number of repeat offenders, and that’s the biggest problem. It may be a small cohort of juveniles committing the crimes around here but they’re not learning their lesson after being caught,” Mr Ashby said.

“There’s no accountability. Clearly, something’s going wrong in their household, and police. They’re pulling their hair out, they’re at their wits end, because they know themselves that they will do the best they can to put a stop to it and try and lock them up.

“But the way the system operates now is these kids seem to get a slap on the wrist and released within weeks, and they’re doing the same crime time and time again.”

Environment Minister Leanne Linard dismissed the proposal from the far right party, saying “they always come up with radical ideas”.

“What we know about young people when they’re offending is they need to be connected to community and services,” the former youth justice minister said.

“These sorts of plans have been previously floated – there’s no evidence that they work.

“They (youth offenders) need to be connected to the support services, education and safe homes – that’s actually what breaks the cycle of offending.”

Education Minister Grace Grace said Konomie Island Environmental Education Centre was a crucial tool for teaching children about the environment and bluntly said “we don’t support” converting the island into a facility for juvenile offenders.

“I won’t be handing over a tropical island to house young people when we’ve got a fantastic education and environment institution that works with the elders,” she said.

“It’s a great training and education facility and we won’t be handing it over for some bright spark.”

An ongoing parliamentary inquiry into youth justice recently exposed the alarming conditions faced by children at each turn of the criminal justice process — including in the watch house and being locked up for 23 hours at a time in prisons.

But a lack of housing options overall and child safety resourcing on weekends is forcing lawyers to keep their young clients behind bars for longer than necessary, even if bail is granted.