A prominent youth advocate and lawyer has accused a state parliamentary committee of "shallow" scrutiny of youth justice legislation, saying it "cements Queensland as a backwater state with echoes of the Bjelke-Peterson era".
Katherine Hayes, CEO of the Youth Advocacy Centre, made the comments after the parliament's Economics and Governance Committee – made up of Labor and LNP MPs — on Friday released a report recommending the Palaszczuk government's proposed youth justice law changes be passed.