‘Public anxiety’ no justification to override Human Rights Act on youth crime laws, Queensland MPs told

Queensland’s human rights commissioner says the government must find solutions that ‘will actually work to reduce crime and protect the community’. Photograph: Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

Queensland’s human rights commissioner has told a parliamentary committee that “public anxiety” is no justification for overriding the state’s Human Rights Act to make breach of bail an offence for children, warning that doing so could set a precedent.

In a tense back-and-forth during a hearing into the proposed youth crime laws, Scott McDougall said he was deeply concerned about the impact that the suspension of the act could have.