The Palaszczuk Government is committed to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of young people in Queensland youth detention centres. Equally, any allegations of mistreatment of young people must be thoroughly and appropriately investigated.

The government welcomes the report of the Independent Review of Youth Detention (the Review), conducted by Kathryn McMillan QC and Professor Megan Davis, into the practices, policies and programs of Queensland’s youth detention centres.

The government has accepted all 83 recommendations to improve practices and services pivotal to the safety, wellbeing and rehabilitation of young people in youth detention. Critically, the report found no evidence of systemic mistreatment of young people in Queensland youth detention centres.

The government acknowledges that while the review was subject to compressed timeframes and focused on specific allegations, the findings and recommendations provide a considered and comprehensive insight into the operations of youth detention centres and implementation of its 83 recommendations will ensure Queenslanders can have confidence in the administration of youth justice and in the safety of young people in youth detention.

We recognise that youth detention centres are highly complex and sometimes volatile environments and balancing welfare, justice and security needs is a complex and daily challenge. Ensuring that young people, staff and visitors are safe and secure within detention centre is a primary objective of the youth justice system. Equally, it is critical that incident and behaviour management responses are appropriate and are actioned in a way that ensures rehabilitation objectives are not undermined.

The report also acknowledges the significant trauma that many young people in the youth justice system have experienced and the need for this to be a fundamental consideration when implementing the recommendations.