Queensland's proposed youth justice laws will cause more crime and overriding children's rights without proper consultation is "disturbing", the state's lawyers say.
The proposed laws will make bail breaches a crime for children, increase the maximum prison term for car thefts, allow police to arrest kids on suspicion they may breach bail and make courts take into account - during sentencing - crimes that serious repeat offenders could hypothetically commit in the future.
The Palaszczuk government has also promised to build two new youth detention centres to hold the predicted surge of new child prisoners once the laws pass.
The Queensland Law Society, Bar Association of Queensland, Queensland Human Rights Commission and Public Guardian strongly oppose the laws.
QLS president Chloe Kopilovic says the government should introduce evidence-based measures as those proposed in the bill won't work.
"It is our firm view that this bill will not keep Queenslanders safe. It will cause more crime, more community harm and not achieve the intended outcome of community safety," she wrote in a 23-page submission on the proposed laws.
The QLS is also concerned that no additional resources would be provided to help courts deal with any increased load of youth justice matters.
"Enacting a breach of bail offence will further increase the volume of work of these courts and place further burden on an already overburdened youth justice system," she wrote.
The Bar Association of Queensland said it wasn't clear any of the proposals would address the root causes of youth offending, particularly financial and social disadvantage which were "well known to the government".
Vice president Cate Heyworth-Smith KC said the bill was also the first time the government had declared "exceptional powers" to limit the 2019 Human Rights Act.
"That declaration would affect some of the most vulnerable members of society and, in fact, one of the few groups who are incapable of participating in the parliamentary process," she wrote.
"In those circumstances, it is disturbing that proper consultation has not occurred."
The Queensland Human Rights Commission said removing human rights safeguards for children was "an extraordinary and retrograde step for the government and parliament to take".
It said the bill would not reduce recidivism, increase community safety or rehabilitate children, so limiting children's rights are not proportionate.
"The committee should recommend that the bill not be passed," the QHRC said in a submission on the bill.
"It does not demonstrate any limitations on human rights are proportionate, particularly when the bill will not achieve its purpose."
Parliament's economic and governance committee is vetting the bill for the next two weeks before the Labor-controlled parliament takes a vote.
Numerous groups oppose the proposed laws including the Australian Lawyers Alliance, the Anglican and Uniting churches, the Queensland Council of Social Services and Save the Children. A number of universities, charities, Indigenous think tanks and community groups are also against the move.
However, the bill is being supported by the Local Government Association of Queensland, Cairns Council and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill along with a number of individuals who described being victims of youth crime in their submissions.
