Queensland Parliament's suspension of the Human Rights Act

24/08/2023

On Wednesday 23/08/2023 the Queensland Labor government suspended the Human Rights Act for a bill that would allow children to be held in police watch houses indefinitely and turn watch houses into detention centres. 

Police Minister Mark Ryan stated that the laws were necessary to address capacity issues, but the issues stem from the government's repeated efforts to criminalise young people. 

This is the second time the Human Rights Act has been suspended by the state government, previously being disregarded to expand GPS electronic monitoring of young people and to criminalise young people who breach bail conditions. 

This attack on young people comes as no surprise to those who have noted the long and growing list of Labor's indefensible human rights abuses, from the indefinite detention of refugees offshore, to refusing to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 years old to 14 years old.

No one should be under any illusion that Labor has any interest in the wellbeing of First Nations People. These laws will disproportionately impact First Nations Children. We are the most incarcerated people in the world. In the Northern Territory (also under a Labor government) almost all of the children in detention were Aboriginal. 

The solution is not to continue and expand the incarceration of children as young as 10 years old. Community can keep us safe, and we can keep our children safe. We can do it though community controlled diversion programs, by addressing poverty and intergenerational trauma, by strengthening communities and investing in our children's futures.  

Our biggest obstacle is a lack of resources. How does the Queensland Labor Party respond? They throw more money into the police and prisons, suspend the Human Rights Act to pass laws to detain more children, and carry on like it's business as usual.