Queensland will introduce laws to bus children between police watch houses and youth detention centres as part of a $1.28bn community safety plan announced this week.
Guardian Australia understands the measure, set to be announced on Wednesday, will see children transported between facilities to ensure they receive exercise and access to rehabilitation services, schooling and support programs.
It comes after data revealed children held in the “youth hub” of a Queensland police watch house are receiving less than an hour of daily schooling on average each weekday, while those held in youth detention centres are receiving an average of just two to three hours.
Children detained in watch houses generally do not receive any schooling. The only watch house in the state where children received schooling by department of education staff was Caboolture. The data only captured children who had been detained for a full school week.
Under the raft of new laws set to be introduced this week, Queensland will also expand a trial of metal detectors to include shopping centres, entertainment and sporting venues and high-risk retail locations. The trial will run until October 2026.
The police minister, Mark Ryan, said the locations could include “a late night McDonald’s… late night service station or 7-Eleven”.
The police powers and responsibilities amendment bill – also known as Jack’s Law – allows officers to search people for weapons on public transport and in nightclub precincts, without reasonable suspicion to do so, using a metal detection wand.
The legislation was passed last year after a knife detection trial on the Gold Coast, which was sparked by the death of 17-year-old Jack Beasley in 2019.
The government will also roll out an additional 900 police, 3,000 metal detectors and 1,000 “state-of-the-art” tasers and a GPS monitoring trial will be expanded.
Media and victims’ access to children’s court will be improved under the new laws and the government will also establish a firearms prohibition order scheme to prevent high-risk people gaining access.
Laws to establish a permanent independent victims commissioner and create a sexual violence review board passed parliament on Tuesday.
The premier, Steven Miles, said the community safety plan would expand “practical measures that have been proven to work; things like more police, more visible policing, helicopters and other tools, equipment and resources for our police”.
He said the causes of crime are complex and often stem “from experiences of domestic violence, homelessness, disengagement from education, poor mental health and lack of family support”.
“While we know there will always be some level of crime, it’s our jobs as a government to put the plans in place to respond quickly and support those victims.”
Youth justice minister, Di Farmer, said the plan would target children from the earliest times they started to show signs of being at risk.
“It’s not one single solution that is going to get the outcome that we want. It’s why this plan covers a range of portfolios – health, education, housing, disabilities, communities, police, youth justice – there is a lot of work that has already been done.”
Queensland police commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, said the QPS “welcomes the government’s announcements of additional police personnel, resources and new laws which will all support our dedicated frontline officers”.
“They will assist us in our commitment to keeping the community safe and ensuring they feel safe,” he said.
Lyndy Atkinson, a Voices for Victims representative met with Miles on Tuesday and said the government had not promised enough. The group wants the elimination of detention as a last resort from the Youth Justice Act and an increase in minimum sentences for youth offenders.
Detention as a last resort for children is enshrined in international law, including in the United Nations’ convention on the rights of the child, which Australia has ratified.
Additional reporting by Andrew Messenger
