First Nations children as young as ten could face life in prison for non-violent offences under the latest "punitive" amendment to Queensland's "adult crime, adult time" laws.
The legislation, introduced into parliament by Premier David Crisafulli on Tuesday, will disproportionately impact First Nations children, the LNP has admitted and directly contradicts international and domestic human rights.
New amendments to the laws introduced last year will also curtail a child's right to protection from "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment" whilst being incarcerated, and can see life imprisonment for arson - an offence against property. The use of fire against a person is covered under other crimes, including murder.
The state's youth justice minister, Laura Gerber, acknowledged in a Statement of Compatibility to the bill that it's likely "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will be impacted more by these amendments, due to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system".
"The Bill could result in more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children being imprisoned for longer periods of time," she said.
The minister argued, however, that she was "satisfied that there is no direct or indirect discrimination on the basis of race. This is because the increased sentences will apply equally to all young offenders."
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When the laws were first introduced last year, amidst criticism from human rights and Indigenous organisations, First Nations Justice Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Maggie Munn, said they wondered "how the Premier can sleep at night knowing he is condemning Queensland children to an unbelievably bleak future, especially when those children are predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids, and kids with a disability".
NATSILS' chair Karly Warner said at the time, "If the government was serious about its commitment to 'put victims first', then it would implement evidence-based policy that can reduce crime. These laws have no hope of doing that."
On international law compatibility, Minister Gerber stated: "The amendments may lead to sentences for children that are more punitive than necessary to achieve community safety. This is in conflict with international law standards...which provide that sentences for a child should always be proportionate to the circumstances of both the child and the offence."
"The Government acknowledges that the proposed amendments are not consistent with international standards regarding the best interests of the child with respect to children in the justice system, and are therefore incompatible with human rights," she added.
Overall, juvenile offenders found guilty of 20 additional offences will be tried as adults, with the government having to override the state's Human Rights Act for the fourth time in two years. One lawyer told National Indigenous Times last year the act wasn't worth "the paper it was written on".
Minister Gerber said the likely increased strain on detention centres would see children held in adult watch houses for "extended periods of time".
"This would be a direct limitation to the right to protection from cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment and the right to humane treatment when deprived of liberty," she added.
"This is because it is widely accepted that watch houses are not appropriate or humane places to detain children, particularly for any lengthy period of time."
Last year, a report revealed two disabled Indigenous children died shortly after being released from detention having been kept in "separation" - the term the Queensland government uses for solitary confinement - for extensive periods of time whilst incarcerated.
A recent Curtin University study published in the Lancet found young people leaving Queensland's detention system were 4.2 times more likely to die prematurely, with suicide and drug poisoning being some of the most common causes.
According to guidelines, children are not meant to be kept in a watch house for more than 72 hours, however, Youth Advocacy Centre's chief executive Katherine Hayes previously told National Indigenous Times: "A psychiatrist who works in the watch houses has said that he sees decline in mental health after 24 hours in children and they come out angrier and more damaged."
In October, National Indigenous Times reported two 13-year-old Indigenous children were kept in watch houses for 26 and 25 days respectively.
As of 6 pm on April 1, 61 children were in watch houses across the state - 32 of them First Nations. The longest has been there 22 days.
Sisters Inside chief executive, Debbie Kilroy, said the expansion of the law wasn't about community safety but rather a "cynical and calculated net-widening exercise that targets the most disadvantaged children in Queensland".
"Many of these children are survivors of violence, neglect, racism and poverty, yet rather than addressing the root causes of harm, the Queensland Government is determined to subject them to harsher punishments and state-sanctioned violence," she said.
The state currently locks up more children and more Indigenous children than any other jurisdiction, with 43 per cent of all First Nations children and young people incarcerated across the country in Queensland.
It also has the highest recidivism rate nationwide.
"It won't matter how many offences the LNP government adds to these laws, because the LNP's underlying approach will actively increase reoffending rates," Greens MP Michael Berkman said.
Other crimes that could carry life sentences for children under the new amendments include rape, attempted robbery with violence, and attempted murder.
