Palaszczuk govt like ‘dumbest contestant on MasterChef’ over failed youth crime laws

The Palaszczuk government’s legislation for adult watch houses to be used as youth detention centres would likely lead to a rise in crime, the legal profession has said in a scathing attack.

The legal profession has ramped up its scathing attack on the Palaszczuk government’s “counterproductive” legislation for adult watch houses to be used as youth detention centres.

The Bar Association of Queensland has launched a staggering take-down, saying it was not consulted in any form before the controversial laws were rammed through Parliament last week.

Damien O’Brien KC, president of the association founded in 1903 to represent practising barristers, urged the government to revisit the legislation, saying it contravened the state’s own Human Rights Act and was “entirely inappropriate”.

He also said the legislation to keep young people in watch houses would likely lead to more dysfunctional behaviour and a rise in crime.

It comes after a leading human rights lawyer accused the Queensland government of being the “dumbest contestant on MasterChef”, saying it deserves to be “voted off” over its failed attempts to decrease youth crime.

Barrister Damien Atkinson OAM KC said no Queenslander deserved to be a victim of crime, but the law changes made last week to allow kids to be locked up in watch houses would not work.

Damien Atkinson OAM KC

Mr Atkinson, chair of Queensland’s Youth Advocacy Centre Chair, has visited the “concrete holding yards” where he said kids were covered in urine and faeces and had no access to natural light, exercise, medications or education.

“It’s not the coppers’ fault because they weren’t trained to be babysitters, but watch houses are not purpose built for kids,” he said.

“Locking children up only makes them angrier and sicker – you can see their mental health diving and this contributes to reoffending.”

A furious Mr Atkinson said the laws that stripped children of their rights and were rushed through parliament last week without consultation were proof the government had “no real plan”.

Mr O’Brien said it had always been the policy in Queensland that when young people were detained, they were held in youth detention centres built specifically for that purpose and, under the guidance of trained departmental officers, to provide services to assist in equipping children for a productive life.

“In stark contrast, Queensland watch houses are fundamentally unsuited to housing young people,” he said.

“They are almost invariably lacking in exercise areas, educational facilities or even natural light and they make it impossible for young people to be segregated from adults, as they should be.”

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NcaNewsWire/Glenn Campbell

Mr O’Brien said the Bar was greatly concerned that the care of children in watch houses fell to police officers who – while doing an outstanding job in their assigned roles – had little or no training in this area.

“That the Queensland Government should see fit to override its own Human Rights Act, in relation to Queensland children, is also a matter which the association considers entirely inappropriate.

“For the causes of youth offending to be addressed in any lasting way it will require the development of a coherent, long-term, whole-of-government plan, consistent with the recommendations of the Atkinson Report 2018 and the Queensland Family & Child Commission 2023.

“Reactive policy-making that involves little or no consultation with key stakeholders is always to be discouraged.”

Mr O’Brien said the normalisation and formalisation of holding children in watch houses for any length of time, and when they had not been found guilty of any offence, would likely lead to more dysfunctional behaviour and a rise in crime.

Acting Premier Steven Miles has “disputed” criticism of the legislation and the notion there was no plan behind it.

Mr Miles on Tuesday reiterated the law changes, rammed through parliament last week and circumventing the normal scrutiny process, were necessary to ensure the status quo after a nearly successful Supreme Court challenge.

“All it does is continue our existing plan for youth justice, we made changes to that at the start of the year… and we are sticking with that course,” he said.

It comes as Mr Miles earlier defended the laws after former Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo wrote a damning assessment of them in The Courier-Mail on Monday.

Mr Atkinson said Queensland needed to look to NSW and Victoria on how to reduce youth crime but the government was only interested in “throwing red meat to protesters” to win votes.

“It isn’t a question of what young people deserve but what works – Queensland is the laughing stock of the nation,” he said.

Mr Atkinson, the son of former Brisbane lord mayor Sallyanne Atkinson, said early intervention programs in southern states were not immediate fixes but shown to be effective.

“But here in Queensland you get the government beating its chest over an ever-higher number of children in holding cells,” he said.

“It’s weird – they see levels of incarceration as a badge of success; it is a measure of failure.

“There has been a steady increase over three years from 225 to 275 kids a day in detention.

“The government’s tough-on-crime approach is not reducing crime – Queensland is the dumbest contestant on MasterChef and should be voted off.”

Mr Atkinson also took aim at Police Minister Mark Ryan, saying he should talk to police at the coalface.

“Police tell me they can’t get officers who are parents to do second shifts at these watch houses because they are too distressed by what they see; kids’ basic human rights are being overridden,” he said.

He said in Queensland 17 per cent of young offenders committed 48 per cent of crimes so it was clear where the focus should be directed.

“We have to start with the health of mothers, to ensure children are born into a loving environment,” he said.

“A lot are born with foetal alcohol syndrome so never stood a chance.”

Mr Atkinson said the system needed to work much faster to process children through detention because 80 per cent of kids inside were on remand.

“The three centres in Brisbane – Cleveland, Brisbane and West Moreton – have a combined capacity of 306 but the government didn’t think about what was going to happen when they overflowed.

“They’re like, ‘bugger me, who saw this coming?’”