Cairns youth detention centre details kept under lock and key
A dollar figure for Cairns’ contentious youth detention centre has been left out of this week’s state budget with community leaders calling for more consultation as the project advances behind closed doors.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A dollar figure for Cairns’ contentious youth detention centre has been left out of this week’s state budget with community leaders calling for more consultation as the project quietly advances behind closed doors.
The 40-bed centre is set to open in 2027 with several potential sites between Edmonton and Gordonvale believed to be under consideration despite the government refusing to reveal the amount set aside for the project on Tuesday.
But Division One councillor Brett Moller said the ongoing secrecy around the scope of the project had to stop with nearby residents entitled to know more about where youth criminals will reside.
“What the concern has been in the Edmonton to Gordonvale area is that there has been no consultation provided to the community,” Mr Moller said.
The area is a key growth corridor earmarked to house an additional 50,000 residents within the next 30 years with critical planning required, Mr Moller said.
“We would expect and want consultation from the state government so that we can understand the implications on our future planning for this growth corridor,” he said.
“With a facility of this nature it would need to be supported with trunk infrastructure.
“This is a planning exercise where our council is engaged in terms of planning, costing and concerns raised by our community.
“But it’s very difficult when you don’t know what they’re thinking.”
A Department of Youth Justice spokesman confirmed funding had been ferreted away for future use.
“The project is still subject to commercial negotiations and the figures are therefore commercial in confidence,” the spokesman said.
“No final determination has been made on the site of the Cairns centre. Procurement for a managing contractor will commence after a preferred site has been chosen.
“The proposed new centre near Cairns will be designed to enable better delivery of programs proven to reduce reoffending rates of young people. This will help to reduce the number of offenders and lead to fewer victims of crime.”
Police Minister Mark Ryan defended the project earlier this year declaring that a detention centre based in the Far North would give young offenders a better chance to turn their lives around.
“We are committed to increasing detention capacity both in the adult and youth spaces,” Mr Ryan said in April. “There’s still work being done around the proposed site but it’s an important principle that if you can detain people closer to the community that they are from you can support their rehabilitation.”
Mr Pitt recently refused to elaborate on details related to the detention centre’s construction.
“It would be inappropriate to identify the sites under consideration for a range of reasons, including protecting the privacy of existing owners of each site, avoiding unnecessary community scrutiny on the sites that are not selected, and preserving commercial-in-confidence negotiations over the purchase of the selected site,” he said.
The new centres in Woodford and near Cairns will add 120 beds, bringing the state’s youth detention capacity to 426, an 85 per cent increase since 2015.
More Coverage
Originally published as Cairns youth detention centre details kept under lock and key
Hwy reopened, three hospitalised following multi-vehicle crash
The Kennedy Highway has been reopened to traffic following multi-vehicle crash, which left three people hospitalised, on Thursday afternoon.
‘Hectic wildfire season’: Deliberately lit bushfires
A Far North Queensland-based firefighter has warned many homes are not prepared for fire-season as crews contain fires claimed to be deliberately lit.