I rise to make my contribution to the Youth Justice (Circuit Breaker) Amendment Bill 2026. This forms another key part of the Crisafulli government’s plan to make Queensland safer. We took it to the election and Queenslanders backed it in resoundingly. They saw that Labor’s soft-on-crime approach allowed a generation of untouchable repeat offenders to grow. We know that Labor’s attitude has not changed either, because they voted against our nation-leading Adult Crime, Adult Time and their official party platform stated that they do not support mandatory minimum sentences for serious offending. Those opposite simply cannot be trusted when it comes to keeping Queenslanders safe.
This bill establishes another important element of rehabilitation for youth offenders, many of whom are trapped in a vicious cycle of crime that is fueled by the very people they frequently interact with. It is harder for a young person to remove themselves from a lifestyle of crime or drugs if that kind of offending is still all around them. There is not much opportunity for education, there is no real chance for a different path in life to be taken and their actions end up causing lasting harm to innocent people across the state. We know that removing these offenders from the communities and environments in which they have been offending protects the broader public from further offending in the interim, but we also know that it provides greater opportunity for future reintegration with the community and positive ongoing outcomes.
Circuit Breaker at its core is an intensive intervention program imposed by the courts that places young offenders at a designated site in rural or remote Queensland with around-the-clock supervision. Offenders are put on a strict routine, with behavioural expectations that will teach them skills across many different facets of life to ensure they have the best possible chance of turning away from crime entirely. The legislation establishes two pathways into Circuit Breaker: either as a condition of bail or as a sentencing order following a conviction. Before a child can enter the program, the department of youth justice must provide a suitability report assessing whether they are appropriate for Circuit Breaker and whether a place is actually available.
For the bail pathway, the threshold is deliberately high. Circuit Breaker can only be imposed when the court would otherwise have refused bail and remanded the child in custody. It is therefore a genuine alternative to detention for young offenders requiring a much higher level of supervision and intervention. Once placed in the program, the young person must live at the designated site, wear an electronic monitoring device, participate in the program, comply with reasonable directions and not leave without approval.
The second pathway applies at sentencing. A Circuit Breaker order operates as a community-based order for a period of between three and six months, with the same intensive requirements around residence, monitoring and participation. There are consequences if a young offender refuses to comply. A breach may result in the court revoking the order and resentencing the child, including to detention where appropriate. This is not a light-touch community order; it is a highly structured, court imposed intervention designed to combine accountability with intensive rehabilitation.
This bill was given to the Justice, Integrity and Community Safety Committee for scrutiny. As a
member of the committee, I was pleased to participate in the proceedings. We received almost 60 written submissions from stakeholders and held public hearings in Brisbane and Mount Morgan to get a grasp of how Queenslanders were feeling about these proposed changes. There was strong support for the program from victim advocacy organisations such as the Victims’ Commissioner and Victims 1st, who felt that a successful rehabilitation program away from the community would likely reduce repeat offending and future victimisation.
On a personal note, I recognise that if something like this were put in place six or seven years
ago by the previous government I probably would not have run for parliament. If serial offenders were given genuine consequences and targeted rehabilitation then I would not be standing here now as a victim of crime and advocating for the rights of other victims across the state. However, I was let down. My family was let down. Countless other Queenslanders were let down by a weak Labor government that put the rights of offenders over the rights of victims. This initiative seeks to change that. It offers something different.
That is also what we heard from Voice for Victims including Director Natalie Merlehan, a constituent of mine who was seriously injured in the same accident that involved my family. Natalie was left with a lifelong disability in her spine because of the actions of a repeat youth offender. She told the committee that Voice for Victims supported the bill because they ‘believe that effective rehabilitation is one of the strongest tools for preventing future crime’. She is absolutely correct because every offender who can turn away from a life of crime represents fewer Queenslanders becoming victims in the future.
With regard to support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in this program, the committee heard from Uncle George James. Uncle George is a Darumbal elder who supported the idea and believed that young offenders could benefit from engaging with structured activities in a remote location. Going further, Uncle George also stated that sending a young person temporarily away from their family for rehabilitation was culturally appropriate and even related to the way that discipline operated when he was growing up. One particular part of his witness statement that stood out to me was—
My idea for someone who is naughty is not to put them in a room and say, ‘You’re naughty.’ My idea is out to the bush … You can do a bit of fishing, a bit of camping, maybe a bit of fencing. They have to do work.
That is really the crux of this bill. Circuit Breaker offers an alternative for youth offenders who
may feel stuck on the same path. It aims to provide skills and education to help get their lives back on track. It is not just about the offender and turning their life around. Critically, it is about ensuring fewer Queenslanders become victims of crime in the future.
It is important to note that there are safeguards built into the legislation. Circuit Breaker providers will be covered by Queensland’s Child Safe Standards and Reportable Conduct Scheme, while Circuit Breaker sites will be visitable sites for the purposes of the Public Guardian. There are mandatory reporting obligations for harm or suspected harm, a formal complaints process for children and parents, access to legal assistance and ongoing oversight by the chief executive.
The Crisafulli government has committed $80 million over four years to deliver Circuit Breaker.
We also heard that reintegration would continue after a young person leaves the site, with the Staying on Track program able to provide up to 12 months of support, including six months of intensive assistance.
This bill gives our courts another practical tool between the status quo and detention. It combines
accountability, supervision, education and rehabilitation while keeping serious young offenders away from the negative influences that have too often helped drive their offending. Most importantly, it is focused on breaking the cycle before another Queenslander becomes a victim. I commend the bill to the House.