Photograph: Darren England/AAP
Two-thirds of all Queensland children charged with breaching their bail conditions under controversial new laws are Indigenous, despite First Nations people accounting for only 7.8% of the state’s youth population.
Queensland police data shows 169 children have been charged with the new offence, with the youngest aged 11. Of those 169 people charged, 112 are Indigenous, according to the Queensland police service.
In less than two months, six children aged 11 were charged with a combined 30 breach of bail offences.
QPS data shows 511 “charges preferred” for the offence were recorded between 22 March and 25 May – a broader timeframe than that used by the government last week when it said 299 charges had been laid.
The chief executive at Sisters Inside, Debbie Kilroy, said her organisation had already supported girls who had been charged with breaching their bail conditions since the new laws took effect.
Kilroy said, while the girls had breached their bail, they hadn’t committed any other offences.
“It’s been about escaping sexual [and] physical violence,” she said. “It’s about becoming homeless because families can’t afford to pay the rent any more.
“If you don’t have safe accommodation for children then they’re going to be on the street … and if they’re on bail, they’ll be charged with breaching it.”
Queensland suspended the state’s Human Rights Act to make breach of bail an offence for children from 22 March. The legislation passed despite a chorus of experts warning the laws would only further entrench children into the youth justice system, including for minor contraventions such as missing an appointment or breaking curfew.
First Nations children make up 62% of Queensland’s youth detention population and account for 84% of youth detainees put in solitary confinement.
Kilroy said she was horrified but not shocked that so many Indigenous children had been charged by police.
“The data clearly exposes the racism of policing and the failure of government to even believe that racism is driving the numbers up for Aboriginal children to be put in children’s prisons,” she said.
Maggie Munn, a Gunggari person and the acting national director at Change the Record, said they were “gobsmacked” by these figures.
“It’s genuinely horrifying to imagine that in such a short period of time, so many young ones have been exposed to the legal system because of breach of bail,” Munn said.
“Labor say they are serious about addressing youth crime and yet here they are exposing our children to a system that perpetuates harm and trauma.
“Off the back of scary scenes of vigilantism and excessive police force in Queensland recently, I am terrified for our babies.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the state’s youth justice minister, Di Farmer, said the “community must be kept safe” and the government knew it was “doing the right thing”.
“There has to be a real balancing [in] the way we treat youth crime,” she said.
“We need to be able to reassure the community that we’re … keeping them safe from those offences. But in the end, we are really stopping the pipeline of those people getting into the system.”
A QPS spokesperson said the number of “unique youth offenders has decreased dramatically” in the last decade, “but unfortunately a small cohort of young people continue to offend”.
“Youth offending is a challenging, complex issue impacted by underlying factors such as social dysfunction, substance abuse, domestic violence, family dynamics and dysfunction and access to social services and support,” they said.
“Intervention and rehabilitation for young offenders are crucial in breaking the cycle of crime and delivering long-term change.”
