Scathing Auditor-General review: Gov’s youth crime crisis failure

Queensland’s Auditor-General has delivered a scathing review of the government’s failure to address the youth crime crisis, stating it was “unclear” whether strategies were reducing repeat offending.

Queensland’s Auditor-General has delivered a scathing review of the government’s failure to address the youth crime crisis, stating it was “unclear” whether strategies were reducing crime rates or repeat offending.
In his last report as Auditor-General, Brendan Worrall revealed that as the average daily number of serious repeat offenders increased 64 per cent between 2018 and 2023, a significant portion of repeat offenders – 18 per cent – held no record of being offered rehabilitation programs.

Youth offenders leaving detention centres who were offered programs were only given 72-hour rehabilitation plans. This is despite 55 per cent of all youth offending being committed by serious repeat offenders.

Queensland Police were also asked to “strengthen the process for checking young offenders were complying with their bail conditions,” with Commissioner Steve Gollschewski admitting there were procedural gaps in current bail checking procedures.

Soon-to-be former Auditor General Brendan Worrall.

Mr Worrall criticised the government for failing to capture data that showed the effectiveness of various youth crime initiatives, stating it was “unclear whether entities are investing the right programs in the right locations to reduce reoffending”.

“A lack of key performance indicators and system-wide monitoring and evaluation made it difficult to conclude whether the strategy was effective,” the report stated, adding that any future youth crime strategies needed to address gaps in monitoring and reporting.

He also questioned who exactly held overall responsibility and accountability for the youth justice system.

“Within these governance committees there is no clear decision-maker who can be held accountable for the committee’s performance. Government needs to clarify who has the authority to make decisions across the system.”

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer delivered yet another youth crime strategy on Friday, and said the report had not taken into account the latest government initiatives, which were tracking well.

“We already have some excellent results from the programs, including a 14 per cent drop in the number of serious repeat offenders,” she said, referring to data captured outside of the report’s scope.

Ms Farmer then made a bizarre reference to a “diagram” which would show how government agencies would work together to address youth crime, stating “no one agency is really going to be directly responsible for all facets”.

Police target youth offenders in property crime blitz. Picture: Queensland Police

Newly appointed Director-General of the Youth Justice department Bob Gee said a new data reporting system called “Unity” will be released at the end of the year to improve data collection, recording and dissemination.

“That will provide all of that data so that we can give better answers around value for money,” he said.

Mr Gee also argued young offenders were now being detained at higher rates and staff shortages at detention centres had been addressed.

Opposition Deputy Leader Jarrod Bleijie said the Auditor-General had “vindicated” the LNP’s stance on the youth crime crisis, saying the report showed serious repeat offenders held no regard for the law.

“How many plans has the Labor government released in the last 10 years tackling these issues?’ he said.

“It clearly shows these plans have not worked.”

The Auditor-General’s report did not include analysis of early prevention strategies.