More than half of the 18 people who have been dealt with by police over recent Queensland bushfires are children, police have revealed.
Since a state of emergency was declared in Queensland on November 9, police said they had taken action against 18 people for deliberately lighting fires.
Of that, police said, 10 are juveniles who are being dealt with under the Youth Justice Act.
In the two years to the end of 2018, 136 children were charged with endangering property in Queensland by lighting fires — just 18 were convicted.
Several teens were charged over recent fires including a 16-year-old boy who allegedly started a fire west of Yeppoon that destroyed 30 structures and two other teens over a September blaze at Peregian on the Sunshine Coast.
Police chose not to charge two teenagers who were believed to have accidentally started a fire from a cigarette which gutted Binna Burra Lodge in the Gold Coast Hinterland in September.
Attorney General Yvette D'Ath said statistics showed there were more effective ways to deal with young offenders than youth detention.
"A conviction is recorded in the most extreme circumstances but the courts and the police have open to them a whole range of tools to try and stop kids reoffending," she said.
"We are seeing positive results and are pleased we took the initiative to not only bring Youth Justice Conferencing back but also the Fight Fire Fascination program by the Queensland Fire and Emergency Service to deal with arson prevention and rehabilitation."
She said the programs were instigated after devastating fires in Victoria but were scrapped in Queensland by the LNP government in 2012.
Ms D'Ath was confident the reinstated programs were working to reduce recidivism.
In 2017 there were 88 youths aged between 10 and 16 years old charged with endangering property by fire.
That figure dropped to 48 the following year despite the cohort having increased to include 17 year olds.
But in 2016, 21 young people were charged with the same offence.
Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said children responsible for starting fires should be made to apologise for the pain they caused.
"These kids should face real consequences for their actions and be made to front up and apologise to their victims and even visit a burns unit," Ms Frecklington said.
But Ms D'Ath said young offenders were already being made to meet face-to-face with their victims.
