Brisbane watch house officers suspended for using ‘excessive force’ on 16-year-old boy
ABC’s Four Corners program obtained files revealing HUNDREDS of Queensland children were being detained in adult watch houses — sometimes for weeks at a time — because the state’s two youth detention centres were full. Four Corners found cases of children aged 14 or under held in watch houses, some of those children as young as 10 years old.
Nearly half of the children in Queensland’s youth justice system are being held under child protection orders.
Most often, children placed under these orders have been removed from their parents because of abuse and neglect.
Source: ABC News
“Palaszczuk will SEPARATE Youth Justice from the Child Safety portfolio, for a more focused approach ‘with FRESH EYES’ … but
“the new department would use EXISTING staff and there would be NO CHANGES to ministerial responsibilities”.
Watch house revelations prompt Queensland youth justice overhaul
Ms Palaszczuk will separate Youth Justice from the Child Safety portfolio, for a more focused approach ‘with fresh eyes’. The department will be headed by Deputy Police Commissioner Bob Gee, as director-general. The State Government had been under intense pressure since Four Corners exposed chronic overcrowding in youth detention centres was forcing children to be held in adult maximum security watch houses, some for more than a month. Serious cases of child harm were revealed by the ABC, including a girl who was placed in a cell with two alleged male sex offenders and another girl whose finger was severed in a watch house door.
Ms Palaszczuk said the new department would use EXISTING staff and there would be NO CHANGES to ministerial responsibilities.
She said she was determined not to waste a single dollar or another day.
‘These issues cross a number of government responsibilities — police, courts, child safety and education’, Ms Palaszczuk said.
‘I want one person with one job — to coordinate and see these programs delivered’.
Source: ABC News
Queensland Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington tweeted shortly after the announcement. “OMG. @AnnastaciaMP just announced a new department to handle her youth justice crisis. I’ll lay it out for her slowly — get the kids out of the watch houses today.”
OMG. @AnnastaciaMP just announced a new department to handle her youth justice crisis. I’ll lay it out for her slowly – get the kids out of the watch houses today. #qldpol #auspol
— Deb Frecklington MP (@DebFrecklington) May 17, 2019