State govt data reveals how many teens fitted with GPS trackers

A trial beginning in 2023 to fit GPS trackers to Cairns juvenile offenders is yet to slap a single electronic monitoring device on any young people but will be extended by the LNP Government.

A GPS tracker trial will be extended by the LNP Government.

A trial beginning in 2023 to fit GPS trackers to Cairns juvenile offenders is yet to slap a single electronic monitoring device on any young people but will be extended by the LNP Government.

Last January as revealed by the Cairns Post no ankle bracelets had been fitted and 14 months on the Department of Youth Justice confirmed as of Wednesday zero trackers had been worn by young offenders on bail.

“There have been no Electronic Monitoring Devices ordered by the Children’s Court as a condition of bail for young people in Cairns in the trial so far,” a spokesman said.

In June 2023 Cairns, Toowoomba, and Mount Isa were included in the trial when less than 20 young criminals had been fitted with GPS trackers statewide.

A kid with huge knife flashes cash in a stolen car on Instagram. Picture: Supplied

Spruiked under the former government as a tough measure to crack down on hardcore recidivist offenders, the GPS monitoring trial shared in a $38.3m funding package under Youth Justice reforms passed by Queensland parliament in 2021.

In parliament on Tuesday Barron River MP Bree James expressed her outrage while speaking in support of the Youth Justice (Monitoring Devices) Amendment Bill 2025.

“The reality is that youth reoffending remains a significant challenge for our region, one would think with the stats showing how bad the crime is in Far North Queensland that the trialing of these monitoring systems would have been a really big priority for the prior Labor government,” she said.

A youth criminal helps himself to drinks from the BP servo in Edmonton earlier this year.

“But guess how many were deployed in Far North Queensland in the trial during the past four years? Zero, a big fat donut zero.

“Four years this trial has been going for and it’s a disgrace that Far North Queensland was not included.”

The purpose of the Bill introduced to the parliament this week is to extend the electronic monitoring trial for one year to allow time for a review of GPS trackers worn by child offenders while expanding a list of crimes to include specific offences involving violence and threats of violence.

It’s been claimed the use of the monitoring technology was an “effective tool” to reduce the likelihood of reoffending while on bail and Burnett MP Stephen Bennett told the parliament “half the young people who were subject to EMD orders did not reoffend.”

However, previously for a device to be fitted, an offender suitability assessment must be completed which is then considered by the court, and offenders applying for bail must also consent to wearing the ankle bracelet.

Jenelle Reghenzani‘s car was then damaged being rammed by a stolen vehicle in Bayview Heights. Picture: Brendan Radke

Cairns crime victim Jenelle Reghenzani still has flashbacks to 2022 of metal grinding on metal when she was rammed by a stolen car.

She was not surprised to hear no trackers had been fitted in Cairns and said to announce an anti-crime measure but not deliver was disingenuous.

“You can’t promise things and not deliver, she said.

“In all honesty, the government needs to bring in a curfew to get them off the streets and put them somewhere where they are not a nuisance.”

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Originally published as State govt data reveals how many teens fitted with GPS trackers