The commissioner called on Queensland to withdraw the bill on camps for teenagers
Sue-Ann Hunter, the National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, has called on the government of the Australian state of Queensland to withdraw the Youth Justice (Circuit Breaker) Amendment Bill. The bill proposes introducing a judicial alternative to incarceration for juvenile offenders in the form of programs at remote facilities.
In an open letter, Hunter stated that voting for the bill would mean supporting a model under which cases of harm to children could remain hidden. According to her, the main burden of this program will fall on Indigenous youth in Australia.
The commissioner noted that children could be hundreds of kilometers from home. She also stated that the bill does not guarantee children their legal right to file complaints with the Queensland Ombudsman, the Queensland Commission for Children and Families, or the Public Advocate.
According to ABC News Australia, the Queensland government is proposing to allow operators of the Circuit Breaker program to withhold reports of harm to a child if such a report could incriminate them. Child protection organizations have previously criticized this provision, as operators would have a “reasonable” basis for not reporting harm under such circumstances.
For more breaking news, follow the UA.News Telegram channel.
The bill provides that a court may refer children to one of two remote facilities operated by a service provider for up to six months. Participants must wear electronic monitoring devices, receive a basic education, and undergo practical training in agriculture and animal husbandry.
Last week, the Committee on Justice, Integrity, and Public Safety recommended passing the bill without amendments. Hunter stated that the bill should be revised with the involvement of representatives of Indigenous peoples. The bill is still under consideration by the Queensland Parliament; a vote on it has not yet taken place.
The initiative has been compared to the youth camps that the Newman government piloted in 2013. Those camps were shut down in 2015 following rising costs and a series of incidents. An evaluation of the program showed that it did not reduce recidivism: more than half of the convicted young people went on to commit new offenses.
