Arabic version: نقابات كوينزلاند تثير مخاوف بشأن قدرة السجون مع إصلاحات الكفالة

According to ABC News, the Queensland government is preparing what Premier David Crisafulli described as the most significant bail reforms in the state’s history, including proposed mandatory minimum sentences for breaches involving offences covered by the Adult Crime, Adult Time legislation.

Youth Justice and Victim Support Minister Laura Gerber said breaching bail by committing an offence listed under Adult Crime, Adult Time would become a new offence. Mr Crisafulli said the government was considering who the mandatory minimum would apply to and for what period, and flagged the legislation could be expanded to adult offenders.

The government cited data showing 61 per cent of serious repeat youth offenders allegedly committed an offence while on bail, while 38 per cent allegedly committed an offence listed under the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws. Ms Gerber said the number of serious repeat offenders had fallen by 29 per cent since the legislation was introduced. The laws have already been expanded twice to cover 47 offences.

Unions representing corrective services and youth detention workers warned that additional prisoners could place further pressure on facilities. A state audit office report found Queensland’s prison population had increased by 54 per cent over the past decade, while the latest ombudsman report found Wacol Prison in Brisbane’s west was operating at 168 per cent capacity.

Together Union assistant branch secretary Michael Thomas said the changes would “almost inevitably end up in triple-ups”, in which up to three prisoners are housed in a cell designed for one person. Queensland Corrective Services had already forecast an additional 1,500 to 5,200 prisoners by June 2035 before the proposed reforms. Ms Gerber said extra capacity had been brought on, with another 1,400 beds due in the next couple of years, while acknowledging prisoner numbers were likely to rise.

Australian Workers’ Union secretary Stacey Schinnerl said all youth detention centres were at capacity and young people were waiting in watchhouses. Cindy Micallef, whose mother Vyleen White was fatally stabbed by a teenager in Redbank Plains in 2024, welcomed stronger bail laws, saying the offender had been on bail three times.