Arabic version: حكومة كوينزلاند تواجه اتهامات بإسكات منتقديها
According to The Guardian, current and former officials, community-sector workers and others have accused Queensland’s Liberal National party government of using threatening tactics and creating a culture of fear to suppress criticism of its policies. The claims centre particularly on youth justice and child safety, where service providers are relied on to deliver state programs.
The report highlights the resignation of Beck O’Connor, Queensland’s first independent victims’ commissioner. O’Connor had raised concerns about the government’s “adult crime, adult time” policy, proposed year-long police-issued domestic violence orders, and crime statistics. After she criticised the statistics and called for an independent crime-data authority, an unreleased report into DV Connect, where she had previously been chief executive, was leaked to the Courier-Mail. O’Connor denied wrongdoing or impropriety and resigned weeks later.
Katherine Hayes, chief executive of the Youth Advocacy Centre, said O’Connor’s treatment had chilled public debate. Yac’s funding for its bail support program was recently cut, although Hayes said the organisation had met and exceeded program KPIs. The government said Yac was not successful in its application to continue the Brisbane program and that other organisations had been selected.
Residential care provider director Nicole Hague said referrals to her service had dried up after she was quoted criticising the government’s treatment of vulnerable children. Labor also tabled documents showing providers seeking new contracts had to sign confidentiality agreements, including a prohibition on taking legal action against the state. Child safety minister Amanda Stoker said the government had done more than Labor to expose the difficult lives faced by young people.
Concerns also focus on oversight bodies and parliamentary scrutiny. The government ended the First Nations truth telling and healing inquiry, scrapped several roles and has not invited critics to give evidence at some government-controlled committee hearings. A government spokesperson rejected the inferences in the inquiry as unsubstantiated and said the government was setting delivery KPIs after a decade of “zero accountability” on service providers.
