Adult time for serious juveniles up for debate in parliament

Queensland’s parliament will debate whether serious juvenile offenders should face adult sentences this week, following strong community calls for tougher laws.

Adult time for adult crime will be debated in parliament this week. Picture: John Gass

Queensland’s plan to let courts give adult sentences to serious juvenile offenders has cleared its first major hurdle, with a parliamentary committee recommending the legislation be passed when parliament sits again this week.

The Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee tabled its latest report on Friday, May 16, endorsing the Making Queensland Safer (Adult Crime, Adult Time) Amendment Bill 2025.

The 156-page report ends the committee phase and sends the Bill back to the House for its second-reading debate this week.

The offences and the new penalties that will be debated in parliament this week.

It leans heavily on testimony gathered during the committee’s final regional hearings including in Redland on May 9 and is the decisive blueprint that can turn the government’s slogan into law.

It advocates wider offence coverage, an open human-rights override, and a political narrative anchored in Redland residents’ stories.

That combination makes the document pivotal, not a rehash.

The committee held public hearings in Brisbane, Cairns, Townsville and Redlands and heard from local community members, many of whom relayed horrific accounts of crimes committed against them.

Residents from Cleveland, Capalaba and Victoria Point including Chris Sanders, who was stabbed at an Alexandra Hills Shopping Centre, packed Redland City Council chambers to detail break-ins, car thefts and assaults they said were now routine.

“The system has failed us,” witness Rebecca Musgrave told MPs, describing repeat burglaries at her home.

Business owner Neil Berry warned that nightly raids were “slowly bleeding independent retailers,” urging “appropriate punitive sentencing … to restore a sense of peace and safety.”

Committee chair Marty Hunt MP said the accounts typified community sentiment.

“Many community members relayed horrific accounts of crimes committed against them,” he wrote in the foreword, adding that the Bill “puts the rights of victims of crime at the forefront of our youth justice system”.

Voice for Victims Lyndy Atkinson and husband George with stabbing victim Chris Sanders at Cleveland Magistrates Court. Picture: Judith Kerr

Capalaba MP Russell Field told the hearing the frustration was “raw” and that locals “expect consequences that fit the crime”.

The Bill adds 20 offences, including attempt to murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, arson, and drug trafficking, to last year’s “adult crime, adult time” list.

Young people convicted of those crimes could receive the same maximums, and in some cases mandatory non-parole periods, that apply to adults.

Premier David Crisafulli’s introduction speech frames the aim simply and said the amendments “send a strong message to the community that youth offending will be treated seriously and ensure that courts can impose appropriate penalties that meet community expectations”.

While supporting passage of the Bill, the committee acknowledged the legislation clashed with the Human Rights Act 2019, concluding “this incompatibility is justified in the circumstances”.

Submissions from legal and Indigenous organisations warn the Bill could “disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children” and “reduce access to restorative justice”.

Those objections are reproduced in the report, but the committee makes only one recommendation — adopt the Bill.

Parliament will debate the measure on Wednesday, May 21.

If passed unchanged, young offenders sentenced under the new regime could face adult penalties before year’s end.

Redland residents who attended the May 9 meeting, said the tabled report felt like progress.

As Ms Musgrave said after learning of the recommendation, “At least they heard us, and it’s in black-and-white for every MP to read.”

Originally published as Adult time for serious juveniles up for debate in parliament