We welcome working with the Queensland Government and our respected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and experts on youth justice and child wellbeing to achieve youth justice responses that address underlying causes of offending and embed evidence-based, trauma-aware, and culturally informed responses.
Our submission highlights our concerns with the current legislation that includes:
- that it results in increasing punitive responses to the impact of poverty and intergenerational trauma
- the lack of evidence supporting the proposed use of electronic monitoring devices or the presumption against bail as effective measures to reduce recidivism
- the impact on rights protected under Queensland’s Human Rights Act 2019 and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle
- the lack of special provisions for how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership would be involved to ensure that a cultural lens is applied to application of the amendments
- the likelihood these changes will result in increasing already high rates of detainment of our children
We provide evidence for a new approach and call for funding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions that will provide healing for families and address the range of underlying social and economic issues impacting on our young people that are the key drivers of their offending behaviour.
View full submission here.
