Govt ignores experts, forges ahead with justice laws
The Queensland government is set to ignore expert advice and forge ahead with controversial youth justice laws, fulfilling a key election promise.
Expert advice is set to be ignored by a state government as it forges ahead with youth justice laws that stakeholders say violates human rights.
The controversial legislation is being scrutinised, with human rights advocates slamming proposed “adult crime, adult time” laws when they fronted a Queensland parliamentary hearing.
Premier David Crisafulli on Tuesday acknowledged the experts who warned harsher sentences for juvenile offenders as young as 10 would not make the community safer.
However, the Liberal National Party leader said the laws would be passed by Christmas regardless, ensuring he fulfilled a key election promise.
“We are a different government and we are taking a different approach that puts victims first across the spectrum,” the premier said.
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“We are doing exactly what we said we would before the election, the laws, timelines, how it will work to support victims first and foremost – everything is consistent with how we campaigned.”
The LNP campaigned hard on youth crime before claiming the October 26 election, ending Labor’s nine-year reign.
Crisafulli indicated community sentiment rather than expert opinion was the driving force behind the new laws as the parliamentary hearing moved to “ground zero” of the state’s youth crime outcry.
The parliamentary committee on Tuesday heard submissions from stakeholders about the proposed laws in Townsville, north Queensland.
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It received feedback from experts on Monday, with the state’s Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall urging the LNP government to take its submissions on board.
“We are forging ahead knowingly violating the UN Convention against torture against children – in any other context that is called child abuse,” McDougall told the public hearing.
The laws remove detention as a last resort and dramatically increase penalties for serious youth crimes, with children now facing a life sentence for five offences.
The government conceded when tabling its laws that it would override the state’s Human Rights Act and would likely increase the number of children in detention centres, putting pressure on the already packed facilities.
Two new detention centres are in the pipeline as well as a new remand facility.
“There will be some short term pressures, but we believe long term we can deliver a system that provides fewer victims but also better outcomes,” Crisafulli said on Tuesday.
Asked if he was forging ahead with the laws because he thought the experts were incorrect, the premier said: “They have a different view and they should be able to express that view… that’s part of the democracy that we live in.
“We are not going to Christmas with the same youth justice laws that have led us to where we are.”
Crisafulli said besides sentencing laws, the LNP government was also “working overtime” on early intervention and rehabilitation measures for young offenders.
Meanwhile, the government announced on Tuesday a $142 million increase to the legal assistance sector that brought total funding to $1 billion over five years.
