"We are all diminished": Queensland Human Rights Commissioner on changes to youth justice laws

Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall says harsher laws on youth offending introduced in state parliament today will not make the community safer and are a clear breach of human rights obligations.

“What seems to have been lost is the fact we are talking about children – some as young as 10 years old. We’re talking about children in grade 4, who aren’t old enough to go on a ride at a theme park by themselves, and we are talking about treating them and giving them the same moral culpability we give to adults,” says Mr McDougall.

The government’s proposed reforms would sentence children as adults for some offences and remove the principle of detention as a last resort.

The laws mean the state’s Human Rights Act will be overridden for the third time. All three overrides have been in relation to youth justice.

The bill was also subject to an urgency motion, resulting in a committee inquiry process of just 8 days.

“There is no justification for overriding the Act – again – and no justification for the rushed inquiry process and lack of proper scrutiny and consideration.”

“The Human Rights Act is there as a framework for us to use in just these kinds of situations – where there is complexity and rights which need to balanced and considered in the light of evidence and respect for human dignity.”

“Instead we are leaping headlong into short-sighted short-term measures which won’t increase community safety but which will further traumatise children who are being punished for the collective failure of the systems that are supposed to be helping them.”

The Commissioner says the government’s own words acknowledge the harm these reforms will do to already marginalised children and young people, including their disproportionate impact on First Nations children.

“The statement of compatibility tabled with the bill – required under the Human Rights Act – acknowledges that:

‘The amendments will lead to sentences for children that are more punitive than necessary to achieve community safety. This is in direct conflict with international law standards’.

“Those aren’t my words. They are the words of the government responsible for tabling this legislation.”

“Any society that treats children in the same way as adults is a society which has lost its way. We are all diminished by these laws.”

- ENDS

Media Contacts

QHRC Media

Email: comms@qhrc.qld.gov.au

Phone: 0407 657 411