The Indigenous - Aboriginal Party of Australia (IAPA) are calling for the Queensland government to abandon plans to drastically increase penalties for young people convicted of certain offences.
In wake of the Boxing Day tragedy that occurred involving Emma Lovell and her family, the Palaszczuk government announced violent juvenile car thieves will face up to 14 years' jail in a suite of increased penalties, and the planned construction of two new youth detention centres.
In a statement the IAPA said no one wants violent crime and reducing it is a goal all Queenslanders share, but noted that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are already overrepresented in the criminal justice system due to systemic disadvantage.
The Party said well-resourced crime prevention programs would protect the community and also save the lives of young offenders at a cost far less than punishing crimes after they have occurred.
Increased sentences do not have a deterrent effect on the young, often already traumatised minds of most juvenile offenders, the IAPA noted.
IAPA spokesperson Racquel Austin-Abdullah said constructing two more youth detention centre's will undermine Queensland's commitment to the national agreement to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people (10-17 years) in detention by at least 30% by 2031.
Ms Marnie Davis, Senior Family Support Specialist with the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS), said that the majority of young offending people in Queensland are from the child protection system, including out of home care.
"Reducing offending is about giving parents and kinship carers the support they need to raise healthy, strong, resilient kids," she said.
Lionel Henaway, IAPA Lead Senate candidate in Queensland, who has 20 years of watch-house support experience, said building more youth detention facilities is not the answer.
Mr Henaway believes local Indigenous communities have the answers to youth crime through empowering parents to care better for their own children.
He said state government can support and facilitate that process rather than undermining it by taking over and imposing its own, often ineffective, strategies which take responsibility and control away from parents, extended family, Elders and the Traditional Owners.
Jenny-Lee Carr, another IAPA Senate candidate in Queensland, has worked on the front line in prison health.
"It's not just a matter of increasing jail time; It all stems from colonisation, the system that has failed First Nations people," said Ms Carr.
"There is no easy fix but our young people will be extremely affected and traumatised by any increase in prison time."
IAPA founder Uncle Owen Whyman, lead NSW Senate candidate, is a long-time cultural leader, youth mentor, and activist in his Wilcannia community.
"Indigenous kids should be on country learning cultural wisdom & values instead of being incarcerated," he said.
"Take them back on country to learn the Indigenous way of life as well as the white man's way of life before being allowed back into the community.
"When they are allowed back in to the community they should be given three to 12 months work, monitored by youth workers, to get them back into mainstream workplaces.
"This should be looked at as one of the solutions to rehabilitation of our Indigenous kids right across Australia and not only in Queensland. Maybe Queensland could implement this as an example for other States and Territories to take on board."
