Hearing: Measures untenable

Youth crime not emergency

QUEENSLAND’S youth crime issue is not comparable to a state emergency or “exceptional crisis situation constituting a threat to public safety” the state’s human rights commissioner has warned, in a combative committee hearing into the government’s measures.

A parliamentary committee — made up 50:50 of Labor and Liberal MPs — is holding its first public hearings into the state government’s new youth justice laws, with the witness list on Tuesday including legal experts, youth advocates, and the mother of slain teenager Angus Beaumont.

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall (pictured), speaking first, held steadfast on the position the measures introduced to parliament last week and the government’s decision to override the state’s human rights act was untenable.

He also argued the human rights act was more “important than ever, rather than abandoning the rights of children, many of whom are themselves victims (of crime)”.

Committee chair Linus Power (ALP) argued the government, as politicians, ultimately had the power and ability to override the human rights act where it saw fit.

Representatives from the Bar Association and the Queensland Law Society raised concerns measures proposed so far, including breach of bail, were not backed by evidence with others, like pushing the judiciary to look at a child’s “bail history” had not been properly defined.

QLS First Nation’s legacy policy co-chair Kristen Hodge queried how the government could push forward with its landmark Path to Treaty laws while turning around and proposing measures which would largely impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

PeakCare Queensland executive director Lindsay Wegener challenged committee MPs to visit the detention centres and watch houses and speak to the children, most of whom will be First Nations, impacted by the government’s youth justice measures.

Michelle Liddle, mum of slain teenager Angus Beaumont, choked back tears as she presented evidence on behalf of Victims of Youth Crime Collective.

She was supportive of measures including breach of bail and supported a suggestion by Opposition MP Dan Purdie that mandatory minimum sentences should be brought in.

The committee is set to hear on Tuesday afternoon from the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Child Protection Peak Limited, the Queensland Family and Child Commission, Sisters Inside and the Australian Workers’ Union.