“Adult crime, adult time” is now law in Queensland. Kids as young as 10 can theoretically face life sentences. There are few comparable democracies that have ever sought to punish children as harshly.
On Thursday, the permanent erasure of fundamental human rights principles passed the Queensland parliament as a sort of anticlimax. The new LNP government, which had flagged the changes since before the election, said the laws were “a first strike back” to restore community safety.
