Lawyers get $1.2m a year to keep kids out of custody
MORE than $1 million could continue to fund a group of lawyers specialising in getting children out of custody and on bail, despite the Government hardening its approach on youth crime.
The bail support funding, which has been running for two years, comes about a week after the State Government toughened youth crime laws to make it harder for recidivist offenders to be granted bail.
Despite this, Child Safety Minister Di Farmer dodged questions on whether $1.2 million in annual funding would continue to fund lawyers specialising in overturning refused bail decisions throughout the state.
She did not specify whether the funding would be cut, decreased or even reviewed.
The group of lawyers, funded by Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ), work under the Youth Legal Aid banner as the Remand, Reduction, Review and Training Youth Team. They trawl detention centres and assist ordinary lawyers to get their clients out on bail.
The Bulletin understands LAQ had about $300,000 in leftover funding “to burn” days before the financial year was up, and has been sending lawyers to regional courthouses to try to justify keeping the cash.
LAQ states the group only works in the southeast, but the Bulletin understands it has worked on Townsville cases before.
The cash limbo comes a week after the State Government passed an amendment to the Youth Justice Act in a move to strengthen bail laws.
The change came about after enormous pressure from the Townsville community, which has been gripped by youth crime this year.
The new legislation changes “may” to “must” keep a child in custody if they are an unacceptable risk to the safety of a person or the community.
Magistrates can still sentence on their own definition of “unacceptable risk”.
Ms Farmer said everyone involved in criminal court proceedings had the right to legal representation, with funding being given to LAQ to help children with legal advice since 2017.
“This service has resulted in less court delays as young people have been represented in court,” she said.
A spokeswoman from Legal Aid Queensland said the team’s roles were significant.
“The team’s role is to provide bail merit assessments, training to community organisations and lawyers in relation to youth justice issues, and also conduct sentence reviews and appeals,” a spokeswoman said.
“The work of this team was originally within the ambit of the work done by Youth Legal Aid but became a separate group about two years ago.”
Ms Farmer said her Government was committed to fixing Townsville’s youth crime issue and was confident the new amendment would keep people protected.
“The new laws deny bail to repeat youth offenders considered a danger to the community,” she said. “We’re making it crystal clear – community safety comes first and we’re serious about repeat youth offenders.”