Queensland Parliament to debate additions to 'adult crime, adult time' laws

Queensland’s parliament will debate new additions to the government's so-called 'adult crime, adult time' laws this week.

Transcript

00:00These are the Premier's flagship laws.

00:05They were part of a pre-election promise last year and they really are the first of their

00:10kind here in Australia.

00:12Now what they mean is that juvenile offenders can be tried as adults for the more serious

00:17crimes and they will face harsher penalties.

00:20The first trench of these laws was actually passed through Parliament last December.

00:24They included manslaughter and murder.

00:27They have now been expanded to include 20 additional offences along the lines of attempted

00:31murder, arson as well as rape.

00:34Now we have already heard from the State's Opposition who have indicated that they will

00:37be supporting the legislation but even before Parliament has started sitting there has already

00:42been fiery debate.

00:43Yesterday we heard from the State's Child Safety Minister Amanda Kam as well as the Youth Justice

00:49Minister Laura Gerber who have exchanged fiery barbs, they have even pointed fingers at the

00:54State's Opposition over their concerns that they are hesitant to support the bill in full,

00:59largely due to the sheer volume of offences that have now been added.

01:03No doubt we are expecting it to be fairly interesting here at Queensland's Parliament when they start

01:08debate and that gets underway this week.

01:09And what's the reaction been?

01:11Well of course there has been sort of international reaction.

01:16We have heard from two United Nations human rights experts who have urged Queensland MPs to

01:23vote against the bill.

01:24They have even written an open letter to the Australian authorities who have basically said

01:28that these changes are really short sighted and don't actually look at the long term solutions

01:35when it comes to sort of youth criminality and youth detention.

01:40Now the two experts have also called for a more child-centred approach.

01:44We've heard from the United Nations Special Rapporteur to Torture Alice-Jill Edwards who has said

01:50that these laws violate Australia's international obligations.

01:54Those conventions provide that the principle of detention shall be a last resort and that

02:03non-custodial sentences should be considered prior to custody.

02:08Queensland has already eliminated the ability for courts to be able to analyse those considerations

02:16and that's deeply problematic.

02:18It's not just, you know, words on paper.

02:21These really affect children's lives.

02:24Now this comes as a 17-month commission of inquiry has also recently been announced into

02:31the child safety system here in Queensland.

02:34There was data that was revealed yesterday that showed that nearly a third of all current

02:39young serious repeat offenders are in the state's care.

02:43So no doubt while this bill is being debated this week, what will remain in the spotlight in

02:48the days and weeks to come is the state of the child safety system here in Queensland.

02:52Well,