Bail support funding to help young people in Townsville

The Queensland Government will fund $500,000 per year in additional bail support in Townsville to help reduce the number of children and young people on remand and make sure young people on bail meet their court-imposed conditions.

Minister for Youth Justice Di Farmer said the funding was part of almost $17 million that would be spent over three years to support young people charged, or at risk of being charged with offences.

“We want fewer young people offending and fewer in detention, but we also know that young offenders need to be held accountable for their actions,” she said.

“This additional support will help young people to meet and comply with bail conditions and help to break the cycle of offending.”

Ms Farmer said evidence showed putting young people in detention almost guaranteed that they would offend again, and that most young people in detention were on remand rather than sentenced to detention.

Many of those on remand were only in detention because they had no safe or secure home to go to.

Ms Farmer said Bob Atkinson’s recent report into youth justice demonstrated that many children who offend for the first time will never re-offend, and that re-offending can be reduced with effective community-based interventions.

“We want to reduce the number of children and young people offending and reoffending and that’s why we are investing almost $17 million across the state,” Ms Farmer said.

“This funding will help create safer communities by better engaging children and young people in areas of Queensland where there is demand for support, including in Townsville.”

The additional bail support will provide activities for young people to address the behaviours and lifestyles getting them into trouble, to assist them with meeting bail requirements, and help them comply with the conditions of their bail.

Youth Justice will work with the community and other services over the next couple of months on how best to deliver the extra services in Townsville.

The services will commence before 2019.

Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper welcomed the additional support.

“It is vital that we offer bail support services for youth offenders. This will help the whole community to be safer,” he said.

“Too many Townsville children are being remanded in custody for want of a safe home or supervision by their families. We want to change that,” he said.

“The evidence shows that bail support works best when the young person participates voluntarily, is engaged immediately along with their families, and is supported with services to meet their individual needs such as education, housing, substance abuse and mental health.”

The new funding supports the work already being undertaken in Townsville to address youth offending.

The Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women works with agencies, families, schools, police and key community stakeholders to engage young people to address the underlying causes and consequences of their offending.

This allows for targeted responses for each young person and to support families who need assistance with a goal to engage young people with education, training and employment opportunities.

ENDS

Media Contact:          Ron Goodman            0427 781 920