Youth crime in Queensland doesn't justify overriding human rights laws with measures that likely lead to more children being kept behind bars for longer, an inquiry has heard.
The Palaszczuk government's legislation, which will increase jail time for certain offences and create a new offence of breaching bail for children, is being probed by a committee after being introduced to parliament last week.
The government admits the measures will limit children's rights, the first time Labor has overridden the Human Rights Act it passed in 2019.
The Queensland Human Rights Commission, the Law Society and the Bar Association have put serious concerns about proposed laws on the record.
Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall compared the proposed reforms to the government's pandemic restrictions, which didn't require the Human Rights Act to be overridden.
"Evidence relied on by the Police Minister does not make out a case for overriding the act, and cannot be described as comparable to a war, a state of emergency, or an exceptional crisis situation constituting a threat to public safety, health or order," he told the inquiry.
"We do not want to set precedents where governments decide to suspend the operation of the Human Rights Act simply because there is ... legitimate public anxiety about a particular issue."
Mr McDougall said he recognised the rights of victims of youth crime, but said at times of public anxiety it is most important to hold fast to fundamental values.
He said there's evidence suggesting pre-trial detention, which is likely to increase under the new laws, tripled the chance of a child reoffending.
"It is not just my opinion, but it's the opinion of many experts ... that the laws that are proposed ... will not actually improve community safety and will in fact create a risk of further increased offending," the commissioner said.
The tense hearing pitted legal and human rights groups expressing their deep concerns about the legislation against a rare, united front of Labor and Liberal National Party committee members supporting the measures.
Several groups took issue with the lack of consultation, and the three-day window to prepare submissions.
Bar Association of Queensland Barrister James Benjamin said the breach of bail offence effectively meant "children can be locked up for failing to keep a promise".
"The ability of children to sign a written contract to perform certain obligations is, under our law, limited, and rightly so," he told the committee.
"The ability of anyone who has signed as the other party to such a contract to enforce contractual obligations of children is also limited."
Earlier, Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick said the government was committed to both "holding individuals to account" and addressing the root causes of youth crime.
When asked about any evidence supporting the criminalisation of bail breaches as an effective way to increase community safety, Mr Dick said the government wanted to do the right thing by Queenslanders.
"Queenslanders have called on our government to act and we are acting, that's why we've introduced this legislation into the parliament," he told reporters.
