Guards at Queensland youth detention centres walk off job due to ‘unsafe’ staff shortages

Brisbane youth detention centre. A lack of staff has resulted in widespread and extended lockdowns of detention centres in Queensland, where children are routinely held in solitary confinement. Photograph: Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

Workers at Queensland’s youth detention centres walked off the job on Thursday morning, demanding the state urgently resolve safety issues related to chronic staff shortages.

The Australian Workers Union says workers at the Brisbane and West Moreton youth detention centres met this morning after serious incidents at both prisons. The staff decided their workplace was “unsafe” and resolved to “withdraw their labour” until concerns were addressed by the state government.