‘Intensive’ new youth program launched to break crime cycle

Indigenous young offenders would be made to stay at an out-of-town facility for months and coached in practical life skills under an expanded government program that aims to break the cycle of their over-representation in jail.

Young offenders would be made to stay at an out-of-town facility to undertake training programs and learn life skills under the state government’s planned expansion of its “on-country” programs.

The major expansion of the program will for the first time involve children staying on-site potentially for months, amid calls from service providers and kids asking to be involved for longer than the usual six to eight weeks.

It comes as an evaluation of a $2m a year trial of the government’s “on-country” camps — run across Mount Isa, Townsville and Cairns — found only a marginal decrease in serious offending in children who successfully completed the program.

A total of 631 children were enrolled in the original on-country programs between July 2020 and February 2024 the government confirmed, though the completion rate is unknown.

Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer will on Wednesday reveal the government will go to market seeking providers for a new intensive on-country trial which will include a cultural and residential experience.

It’s understood the sites for the new program will be out of cities and town centres, but cannot be too remote due to the need to be able to recruit staff and ensure access to hospitals.

The intensive on-country program will be exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children – who are disproportionately represented within the youth justice system, making up about 62 per cent of kids in custody.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up only 4.6 per cent of the state’s population.

According to the state government the new program would involve the young offenders being coached in practical life skills like cooking, cleaning, budgeting, getting bank accounts and identification in a bid to help break the cycle of offending.

Other “wrap around” supports will also be provided to young people and their families to deal with mental and physical health, substance misuse, and relationship with social media.

The existing on-country programs in Cairns, Townsville and Mount Isa run for six to eight weeks and include short camps which can last as short as a day.

An evaluation of the trial, undertaken by QCOSS, found the proportion of young people with serious offending fell from 37 per cent to 30 per cent a year after they had completed the program.

The report concluded the on country program had contributed to reducing reoffending in the community, with some children re-engaging with school or getting help for alcohol and drugs after being involved.

It called for the programs to run for longer.

The government is clear the new relocation versions of the on-country programs are not an alternative to detention, with those children who are found too dangerous to be sent behind bars.

“We are firmly committed to helping young people break the cycle of crime by giving them the opportunity to turn their lives around,” Ms Farmer said.

“This is why we are investing heavily in intervention and diversionary programs around the state that are proven to be effective in reducing offending.”

Originally published as ‘Intensive’ new youth program launched to break crime cycle