The Queensland Government has this afternoon admitted a delay in the process of moving 17-year-olds currently held in adult facilities to youth detention centres. In response, Roxanne Moore, Indigenous Rights Campaigner at Amnesty International Australia, said:
“This is an unacceptable delay by the Queensland Government. This legislation was passed in 2016 and the Government has had more than a year to set this in motion. Every day of delay is a day that teenagers are continuing to suffer in harsh adult prisons, increasing the likelihood of reoffending.
Queensland is the only State in Australia breaching children’s rights, set out in international law, in this way. We are only talking about a few dozen young people here, and we call on the Minister for Child Safety, Di Farmer, to commit to move these young people into child-appropriate accommodation as soon as possible.”
