Youth crime Qld: 60-strong wish list of disbanded committee

A controversially disbanded youth crime inquiry has recommended reviewing detention as a last resort, among other measures.

A controversially disbanded youth crime inquiry has recommended reviewing detention as a last resort, opening the Children’s Court to media and potentially conducting Children’s Court hearings at prisons.

The 60 recommendations also included a call to immediately find alternatives to locking children up in watch houses and for the state government to urgently address housing shortages for vulnerable youth.

The contents of the 138-page incomplete report of the Youth Justice Reform Select Committee was revealed after the government moved to prematurely dissolve the inquiry after the seven-member committee hit a three-week deadlock.

Premier Steven Miles stridently defended the controversial decision, revealing he planned to incorporate some of the committee’s recommendations into a package of youth crime laws to be put forward in less than two weeks.

“It became very clear to me that the committee was dysfunctional,” he said.

“They had an intention to release a report more than two weeks ago, they met repeatedly and had been unable to agree.”

But the Independent MP at the helm of the inquiry, Noosa’s Sandy Bolton, revealed she was blindsided by the government’s move to dismantle the committee, rather than tweak the rules to pave a way forward.

Ms Bolton said the inquiry was ultimately marred by both major parties being blinded by partisan politics so close to an election campaign.

“It could have been a very different outcome if (this inquiry) was at the beginning of the term, instead of at the end,” she said.

Premier Steven Miles at Parliament on Thursday. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Advocacy groups and peak bodies have accused the government of abandoning victims of crime and killing Queensland’s hopes of a bipartisan blueprint on youth crime. An enraged state opposition accused the government of using the committee for political gain and said the decision to shut it down was driven by anxiety over “what it might uncover”.

Among the recommendations was that “the Queensland government immediately review the operation of section 150 of the Youth Justice Act 1192 to determine whether the central principle of ‘detention as a last resort’ as it relates to sentencing”.

The removal of the section has been a major push by the opposition but consistently opposed by Labor – which has warned of the potential ramifications of removing a measure enshrined in international law.

Other recommendations call for the government to “explore the feasibility of holding hearings of the Children's Court of Queensland at youth detention centres” and the establishment of Youth Murri Courts in regional areas.

The report also recommends lowering the threshold for how serious repeat offenders are declared and ensuring courts and police consider those declarations when considering whether to grant a child bail.

The opposition accused to the government of blowing up the committee to force publication of the report, with Liberal National MP Jim McDonald in question time querying if Mr Miles already had a timeline of announcements lined up and simply needed “to appear like they were listening”.

Mr Miles signalled the government was considering introducing a package of new youth justice laws in the next sitting of parliament just 12 days away.

“There are a number of matters that are already under consideration and if we can bring them together with the recommendations on the independent Ministerial Advisory Committee, as well as this committee, well that would be my preference,” he said.

Ms Bolton confirmed the situation within the committee had become “untenable”, with MPs unable to agree on the interim report despite three deadline extensions.

Committee deputy chair Jonty Bush

In a bid to break the stalemate Ms Bolton said she begrudgingly decided to ask for the voting rules of the committee to be tweaked to pave an easier path forward for a report to be published, but she was “shocked” that the government moved to disband the committee.

“However, I understand if you’re having difficulty already, that reality is well, what would change,” she said.

Ms Bolton was adamant that at no point in the process had the government pressured her to get the report published quickly to line up with its legislative schedule.

Advocacy groups and peak bodies including PeakCare Queensland, Voice for Victims and Queensland Council of Social Service slammed the dissolution of the committee as deeply disappointing.

PeakCare Queensland CEO Tom Allsop said the “disappointing end to Queensland’s Youth Justice Reform Select Committee makes it clear that community safety in Queensland is no longer a political priority, it is a political commodity”.

QCOSS chief executive Aimee McVeigh said the last thing Queenslanders wanted to see was “chest beating and political point scoring”. Voice for Victims slammed the draft report as 138 pages of “waffle”. Member Trudy Reading said crime victims had been let down as the report failed to include concrete action.

“We were hoping that there would be a transparent inquiry that will provide real solutions for victims and it’s sad that this has fallen through,” she said.

Justice Reform Initiative executive director Mindy Sotiri said a bipartisan approach for change was “desperately needed”. “It is difficult to believe that members could not reach at least in-principle consensus around the best ways forward, after receiving more than 200 submissions from experts and community figures as well as dozens of hearings and meetings,” she said.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

● Explore the feasibility of holding hearings of the Children's Court of Queensland at youth detention centres

● Develop and implement workforce strategies that ensure the state’s youth detention centres are staffed at levels sufficient to ensure the safety of workers

● The Queensland government publicly report on the number of children and young people detained in watch houses, and how long they have been detained, on a weekly or real-time basis.

● The Queensland Police Service is appropriately resourced to appeal bail decisions relating to children and young people to higher courts where they consider this to be appropriate.

● That the Queensland government immediately review the operation of section 150 of the Youth Justice Act 1992 to determine whether the central principle of community safety is being overshadowed by the principle of ‘detention as a last resort’ as it relates to sentencing.

● Immediately develop and implement a plan to assess the impact of serious repeat offender declarations on the sentencing of children and young people in an ongoing manner and report on their impact annually.

● Immediately expand the scope of serious repeat offender declarations by lowering the threshold at which they can be made.

● Amend the Youth Justice Act 1992 so that police and courts are required to rely on serious repeat offender declarations when making bail decisions in relation to a child or young person charged with a prescribed indictable offence.