- The Crisafulli Government's Commission of Inquiry to examine connection between young criminals and their life in Labor's broken State care system.
- More than 100 of Queensland's most serious young criminals are living in out-of-home care system.
- 55 per cent of all youth crime in Queensland committed by serious repeat youth offenders.
The Crisafulli Government has announced the historic Commission of Inquiry into Child Safety will investigate how the State's broken out-of-home care system, like residential care, has facilitated the growth of serious repeat of offenders in Queensland.
More than 100 of the State's most serious young criminals - along with other young offenders on strict supervised youth justice orders - are living in Queensland's out-of-home care system.
The Crisafulli Government announced on Sunday a Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Child Safety System, with the Commission's scope also to consider the connection between young criminals and their life in care.
The Commission, under the terms of the inquiry, will:
- Investigate through case studies children subject to dual Youth Justice and Child Protection orders, or children under the Guardianship of the Department who have committed crimes that fall within the Making Queensland Safer Laws category; and determine the failures of policy, process and practice that contributed to these children choosing a life of crime.
Latest data shows there are 388 serious repeat offenders (SROs) aged between 10 and 17 in Queensland, with 111 of those subject to a child protection order.
The data from September 2024 details the SROs in out-of-home cares' current living arrangements:
- 0 in Foster Care
- 5 in Kinship Care
- 25 in Residential Care
- 79 have other living arrangements which include hospital, detention centres, boarding schools, supported independent living and all other locations
- 2 are living at home
The connection between SROs and other vulnerable children in out-of-home care fall into the scope of the Commission, with 55 per cent of all youth crime in Queensland committed by serious repeat youth offenders.
There are also 222 children under strict supervised youth justice orders living in the out-of-home care system.
There is currently very limited data collated on the number of children in care who have come into contact with the youth justice system, outside of those on supervised youth justice orders.
The Commission has also been tasked to investigate transparent reporting and information sharing within the context of children in the Child Safety system in Queensland.
According to the 2024 Census on children in out-of-home care on supervised youth justice orders:
- 67% have been in care for longer than five years
- 77% of them have had more than four placements
- 72% have been excluded or suspended from school
- 56% have self-harmed
- 40% have attempted suicide
- 70% have a diagnosed or suspected disability
The Commission of Inquiry will look at whether the current system is fully equipped to properly deal with high-risk children and how their time in care has played a part in their criminality.
The commitments the Crisafulli Government took to the election will still be progressed, including the trialing of a SecureCare facility for high-risk young people who are danger to themselves or the community.
The Crisafulli Government is committed to keeping our communities safe and gathering information on these young offenders will be crucial in our attempt to stop the cycle of offending generationally.
Minister for Child Safety Amanda Camm said it was important to understand the connection and correlation between children in out-of-home care and their interaction with youth justice.
"We often hear of the crime vortex caused by young offenders living in residential care, where they cause others they live with to follow them into criminal behaviours and it is important to investigate and further understand how the system has played a part in that," Minister Camm said.
"The Crisafulli Government is committed to keeping the community safe and this is a crucial moment in time to make serious generational changes to a system that has been left to languish under Labor.
"In the past decade thousands of children have been let down by the former government who did not care enough to investigate how children in care were becoming entrenched in the youth justice system.
"The former Labor Government let communities down by allowing a system that was failing to hold anyone accountable to continue on without any real want for change, other than a roadmap for residential care that was on a road to nowhere.
"I am committed to enacting impactful change and reforming a system that is broken, otherwise we will lose another generation in a cycle of crime and despair."
