The Human Rights Law Centre and Change the Record have slammed the Crisafulli Government for passing laws that will sentence even more children to adult-length terms of imprisonment. The laws will lock up children for even longer, and harm kids, families, and communities. 

The laws: 

• Expand the number of offences where children can be sentenced as adults, exposing them to longer and harsher prison terms, including life sentences; 

• Will target First Nations children, children with disabilities, and children with complex health – including children as young as ten; and 

• Breach Queensland’s own human rights protections, as well as international human rights laws and obligations that Australia has under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  

The Queensland Parliament was urged to vote down these laws, which were labelled “incompatible with basic child rights” by The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on torture and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in a statement this week. 

Instead of these dangerous laws, the Crisafulli Government should be urgently investing in community-led programs which address children’s needs and keep them connected to family, education and culture. 

Rachana Rajan, Associate Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre said:    

“Children deserve care, not cages, and no child should grow up in a prison cell. The Queensland Government’s approach to youth justice is harmful, discriminatory and unjustifiable. 

“Premier Crisafulli is condemning kids as young as ten – most of them First Nations children and children with disabilities – to irreversible harm and an incredibly bleak future behind bars.  

“These type of punitive laws do not work and do not make our communities safer. They entrench inequality, rip children from their families and communities, and cause lasting harm that affects everyone.  

“The Crisafulli Government must stop playing political football with children’s lives, wind back these regressive laws and properly invest in solutions that strengthen communities – like housing, health care, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled programs.”  

Jade Lane, CEO, Change the Record said: 

“Harsher penalties do not make communities safer—they deepen harm, especially for our most vulnerable children. Instead of investing in prisons, governments must invest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions that keep kids safe, supported, and recognise natural protections and strength in culture.

“The Queensland Government already imprisons more children than any other state or territory, the majority of them Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. This will only worsen the crisis facing young people, leaving a devastating legacy for first Nations generations to come

“The Crisafulli Government has demonstrated a disturbing pattern of racial discrimination in youth justice, backing further punitive measures to criminalise First Nations Children and deny their basic human rights is unacceptable. 

“The Crisafulli government’s punitive and carceral responses further embed racism and the impacts of colonisation generationally for First Nations children. We cannot accept legislation that supports children being ripped from their families and communities. These are not just policy failures—they are moral failures that continue stolen generations and generational trauma well into the future.”