‘Public safety over human rights’ in child bail breach blitz

The Palaszczuk government will override its own human rights laws by reintroducing controversial breach-of-bail penalties for juvenile offenders.

Michelle Liddle and Ben Beaumont – parents of Angus Beaumont, who was slain by teenagers north of Brisbane in 2020 – believe the system is weighted too heavily in favour of young offenders.

The Palaszczuk government will override its own human rights laws by reintroducing controversial breach-of-bail penalties for juvenile offenders.

Under a new suite of reforms introduced to Queensland parliament on Tuesday, children who breach bail conditions will face two years’ imprisonment. In response to growing community anger over a spate of high-profile alleged crimes over summer, laws will also be amended to mandate that courts take into account previous bail and criminal history when sentencing.

Police Minister Mark Ryan acknowledged the changes were “incompatible” with human rights protections pushed through parliament by the Palaszczuk government in 2019.

“The amendment may make it more likely that children will be detained pending trial and for that reason is inconsistent with international standards about the best interests of the child,” he said.

“However, the government considers that this measure is needed to respond to the small cohort of serious repeat young offenders who engage in persistent and serious offending, in particular, offending … while on bail.”

Mr Ryan said the decision to override the human rights of accused young offenders was necessary because of the “exceptional crisis situation constituting a threat to public safety”.

The government will also invest $332m to boost police resources and to address causes of juvenile offending.

Justice experts and youth advocates have criticised Labor’s reforms, believing they will do nothing to reduce crime and push crowded youth detention facilities to breaking point. Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, who has called for the breach-of-bail offence for two years, said the government should go further and “unshackle the judiciary” by removing the presumption of detention as a last resort for young offenders.

Michelle Liddle and Ben Beaumont – parents of Angus Beaumont, who was slain by teenagers north of Brisbane in 2020 – believe the system is weighted too heavily in favour of young offenders. “We think the balance needs to be restored and they need to take into account they are human lives, not statistics,” Ms Liddle said outside parliament.

One of their son’s killers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on bail at the time of the murder.

Prisoner advocate Debbie Kilroy said children in the criminal justice system were often victims too and new changes would “ensure a generation of harm”. “This is just a kneejerk marketing exercise so (the government) can be deemed tough,” said Ms Kilroy, chief executive of Sisters Inside.

She welcomed a separate legislation, introduced by Mr Ryan on Tuesday, that will relax laws for those carrying small quantities of heroin, cocaine and ice. “It needs to be relaxed because the people being criminalised for low-level drug use are people who are self-medicating with illegal drugs because of harm caused to them.”

The Australian on Tuesday revealed users carrying up to a gram of recreational drugs will be given three chances before facing a criminal charge.

Mr Ryan said the maximum penalty for drug trafficking would be increased from 25 years to life imprisonment. “This will send an unequivocal message – if you profit from the addiction of others, you should expect to go to jail for a long time,” he told parliament.