‘Find a better way’: Labor MP speaks out on youth held in watch houses

The news

First-term Labor backbencher Jonty Bush has criticised her government for its continued practice of holding young people accused of crimes in police watch houses.

“We as a government and as a society shouldn’t be doing it, and we shouldn’t be accepting it,” the inner Brisbane-based MP for Cooper said during a contentious parliamentary debate on Thursday.

Labor MP Jonty Bush delivering her speech on Thursday.

But Bush, a former Queensland Homicide Victim Support Group chief executive, said the government’s first priority needed to be supporting the victims of crime.

“The stories of young people in prison are traumatic. They’re harrowing and full of hurt and despair. But there are other stories that need to be told here, and regrettably I have plenty.”

How we got here

Bush’s comments came from what she said was a reworked speech after Police Minister Mark Ryan introduced a raft of unexpected amendments to an unrelated bill on Wednesday, set to pass on Thursday.

Among the most significant was a suspension of human rights laws said to legitimise the use of watch houses for young offenders, along with opening the potential to use parts of adult jails, amid nation-leading youth detention pressure and recent legal questions.

That move followed a government policy U-turn and initial human rights law override in March, and has sparked fierce backlash from non-government and opposition MPs, legal, human rights and advocacy groups – some holding a snap protest outside parliament on Thursday.

Why it matters

Bush, whose sister and father were killed by two young men, came to parliament in 2020 after years of advocacy for victims of crime and a decade of criminal justice work within the government.

She was the sole Labor MP to make a public submission to the committee process around the March government crackdown, which she ultimately supported, calling for “courage” to reform the criminal justice system and a review of victim support.

While the government pushed to limit the use of watch houses for young offenders in 2019 after heavy scrutiny, reliance on the practice has seen renewed focus and expert criticism.

Bush’s comments highlight the difficulty the government faces with its evidence-based on-paper push to move away from the punitive “tough on crime” approach still called for by some.

What they said

In her speech, Bush responded to Greens Maiwar MP Michael Berkman’s comments during his contribution on Wednesday asking if any MP thought a watch house was a suitable place to detain a child.

“I want to make the statement to kick off ... children don’t belong in watch houses,” Bush said.

“The second-last place I ever want to see a child is in a watch house.

“Convince me that our first priority shouldn’t be to support the victims, and to protect the community from those who commit violent acts.”

Jonty Bush

“There is a worse place you can visit a child, and that’s in a morgue ... I have [had to do that] and I wouldn’t wish it for anyone.”

Bush also shared two stories of mothers whose children were murdered in graphic circumstances by young offenders, saying the community also had to be protected from those who committed violent acts – even if they were children.

Perspectives

Speaking to reporters earlier on Thursday, Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said the government was committed to making sure young people stayed in watch houses for “as short a period as possible”.

Department director-general Bob Gee said the changes were based on weekend government legal advice their decades-long interpretation of laws around watch house processes was “likely incorrect”.

In a statement, Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall joined criticism of the rushed nature of the changes and said there was no shortage of solutions, only of “political will and courage to act on them”.

Asked during question time if her government was being arrogant and using its majority to rush through legislation, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said: “The answer is no.”