Former AFP boss Mick Palmer slams laws to keep kids in adult watch houses

Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government has rushed through laws that will allow children to be detained in adult prisons and police watch houses.

Former AFP commissioner Mick Palmer. Picture: AAP

Former Australian Federal Police commissioner Mick Palmer has slammed Annastacia Palas­zczuk’s government for rushing through laws that will allow children to be detained in adult prisons and at police watch houses.

Key public scrutiny processes were avoided by the state government on Thursday when it overrode its own human rights act to make it legal for children as young as 10 to be detained in adult prisons and watch houses because the state’s three youth detention centres are at capacity.

The transition of 17-year-olds into the youth justice system in 2018, in line with the rest of the country, has been blamed for an overcrowding crisis as well as tougher juvenile penalties introduced earlier this year.

Mr Palmer, AFP commissioner from 1994 to 2001 and Justice Reform Initiative patron, said keeping children in watch houses for weeks at a time “can only ­exacerbate the problem”.

“They’re not intended for long-term housing for anybody, let alone children,” he said.

“I‘m no apologist for serious crime by anybody, but this can’t be a solution. It will only create worse problems and not appease them.”

Mr Palmer commended police and government for investment in early intervention programs but said more needed to be done. “Almost without question, you will find these children are coming out of very dysfunctional or disadvantaged backgrounds,” he said.

“Unless we are more serious in terms of the money and the effort that we put into that early intervention process, and understanding what are the environments that lead to the behaviour … we’re never going to get on top of this.”

On Thursday, 41 children were held in police watch houses. Since the start of the year, 37 young people have been detained in the facilities for more than three weeks.

The Premier told parliament on Thursday that the law changes “formalised” a process that had been in place for 30 years.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: NcaNewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougal said that was not true.

“It’s not the case that we’ve been detaining children in watch houses for weeks on end,” he told ABC radio.

“It’s only been happening ­really since 2018 and it’s becoming increasingly worse.

“What we’re talking about here is not whether a child should face consequences for committing an offence. What we’re talking about is whether a child should be treated humanely when they are in the care of the state.”

The Queensland Law Society was scathing of the government's decision to bypass usual parliamentary processes, where legislation is scrutinised by a committee and public feedback is sought.

QLS president Chloe Kopi­lovic said the government had undermined the constitution of Queensland’s requirement for examination of new laws.

“It is unacceptable that such serious and profound amendments, that will have long-term impact, are being considered without regard to due process and stakeholder consultation,” Ms Kopilovic said.

Ms Palaszczuk said government had to balance the rights of “young criminals across our state with the protection of the community”.

“The public have been pretty loud and clear that they want the community protected, and this is just one means,” she told ABC. “It’s not our desired outcome.”

Two new detention centres are expected to be built by 2026.