Queensland’s Liberal National party has announced plans to send young people deemed “at risk” of committing a criminal offence to so-called “reset camps” – a program youth advocates have criticised as open to abuse.
The regional reset program – which was immediately compared to the failed “bootcamps” established under the Newman LNP government – was announced on Tuesday by LNP leader David Crisafulli.
The program would differ from the Newman bootcamp initiative as it would involve children who have never been before the courts. The reset program would also be aimed at the siblings of young people in the youth justice system, and those who have disengaged from school, who are considered at risk of becoming criminalised.
Under the plan, young people could be put through a program based on “cognitive behavioural therapy”, a form of psychotherapy.
They would be referred to a one- to three-week program by police, schools, child safety workers or parents, the LNP confirmed.
Crisafulli said the program would focus on “education, discipline, counselling … and above all, consequence for action”.
The plan was immediately condemned by youth advocates and experts who said it would not be effective.
Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive, Katherine Hayes, said the potential for the program to be “abused” was concerning.
She said children should not be sent to a residential facility “against their will without the oversight of the courts”.
“The opportunity for abuse is too high,” Hayes said.
“It is concerning to give the government the power to take away the liberty of a child in circumstances where they haven’t committed a crime other than, for example, being the sibling of an offender. Without any judicial scrutiny, this is a complete overreach of government power.
“This is just boot camps by another name, and boot camps were found to be a complete waste of money when it was introduced by previous governments.
Guardian Australia’s reporting this year has highlighted that a large percentage of young people in the youth justice system have neurodevelopment disabilities, including foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which can affect their impulse control and ability to link action and consequence.
The Australian government says cognitive behaviour therapy is difficult “for people with learning difficulties or mental health problems” and that it does not address underlying issues.
Hayes said interventions to support young people in the community could take years.
“A three-week intervention is unlikely to produce lasting changes.”
Debbie Kilroy, the chief executive of Sisters Inside, said the LNP policy amounted to “prisons in the community” and that the children sent there would be mostly Indigenous.
The Queensland premier, Steven Miles, compared the measure to the former government’s boot camps.
“They were the failed policy that they introduced in 2012 and if they don’t want to keep being compared to the government in 2012 they should stop looking like the government from 2012,” Miles said.
The LNP will spend $50m setting up nine programs across the state. It said they were designed to intervene and divert children “before they become entangled in a web of crime”.
Crisafulli said the program would “reset young lives with the life skills, discipline, psychological support and teamwork to turn them around early”.
“We must give these kids hope and help to turn towards a brighter future,” he said.
Crisafulli has said during the election campaign he would step down after one term as premier if he could not meet an ambitious crime target within four years.
The Queensland election will be held on 26 October.
