The Queensland government has been accused of "targeting" Indigenous children with proposed legislation allowing minors to be locked in adult watch houses.
The amendments were tabled by Police Minister Mark Ryan on Wednesday, in response to what the MP described as "capacity issues" with existing youth detention centres.
Set to be in place until December 2026, the laws will require the suspension of the state's Human Rights Act.
Professor of Indigenous Health at Queensland University of Technology Chelsea Watego described the move as "alarming".
"This is a Labor government that is, on the one hand, saying that they're on track to , yet passing legislation that overlooks human rights for the sole purpose of making it easier to incarcerate Black kids," she told NITV.
Professor Watego, a Munanjahli South Sea Islander woman, pointed to the recent inquiry into the Queensland Police Service as evidence that contact between First Nations children and authorities was not safe.
"The inquiry found there was a widespread culture of racism, sexism, misogyny [in the QPS]," she told NITV.
"Yet here we have the response to that inquiry is to increase the power of police to enact more violence upon our children, of all people."
Human Rights Commissioner slams government
The government has faced condemnation from several quarters following the introduction of the laws, which could see children as young as ten in facilities meant for adults.
The state's human rights commissioner, Scott McDougall, said “there are farm animals with better legal protections in Queensland than children.”
Meanwhile Amnesty International Australia described the proposal as "abhorrent", saying such watch houses were unsuitable for children.
“Adult watchhouses are not places children are ever meant to be kept in for even one night, let alone weeks or months or years," said Indigenous Rights campaigner and Gomeroi woman Kacey Teerman.
"Children in watch houses are exposed to adult detainees who are often drunk, abusive, psychotic or suicidal.
“There is overwhelming evidence that youth detention does not work to deter crime, to rehabilitate kids or to improve community safety. All evidence shows locking up children increases the likelihood of kids re-offending."
Second human rights suspension this year
The Palaszczuk government passed controversial laws earlier in the year that also required the suspension of the Human Right's Act.
Language repeatedly used by the government includes the purported emphasis on “serious repeat offenders”, but local Indigenous leaders say it amounts to unlawful racial profiling.
In data obtained by The Guardian earlier this year, 95 per cent of the children listed on an internal police "blacklist" were First Nations.
"There have been several changes to the legislation that has been aimed squarely at Black children," Professor Watego told NITV.
"The Queensland police union, the politicians in their statements: it's very clear that they're targeting our kids. This is not us imagining that."
