The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls condemns in the strongest terms the passing of the second tranche of the Adult Crime, Adult Time laws in Queensland Parliament.
‘These laws represent not only a deep betrayal of the children of this state, but a fundamental failure of leadership, morality, and care,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Premier David Crisafulli has chosen carceral expansion over care, punishment over prevention, and political opportunism over the safety and wellbeing of the most vulnerable. By treating children as adults in the criminal legal system, the Premier is abrogating his duty to uphold the basic human rights of the children in his care. He is not leading—he is disappearing children into cages,’ said Tabitha Lean.
This is not about community safety. This is about abandonment.
‘The Premier’s rhetoric of “restoring consequences” obscures a brutal truth: these laws are designed to criminalise trauma, to disappear the most disadvantaged children—many of whom have been targeted by the so called “child protection system”, the education system, and the housing system, and pipelined into a prison system that has never made any of our communities safer,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘The state’s own data shows that many of these children have been pipelined into the punishment system from residential care. That pipeline will now end in adult courtrooms and adult prisons,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Let us be clear: criminalisation is not care. Imprisoning children is not protection. These laws are a grotesque distortion of justice, driven by fear, racism, and punishment politics. They are an attack on the very idea that children are still becoming—still worthy of love, support, healing, and a future,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘As a National Network, we do not believe that prisons or punishment can ever create safety. What creates safety is housing, education, healthcare, community, and unconditional care. What prevents harm is resourcing our families, not arresting our children,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Premier Crisafulli’s government has chosen to cast children as threats instead of treating them as people in need of support and compassion. This legislation is a calculated attempt to erase childhood altogether for criminalised and racialised young people—especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who will be disproportionately targeted by these laws,’ said Tabitha Lean.
We will not be silent as this government disappears our young people behind bars.
‘The National Network will continue to build the world we know is possible—one where children are held, not harmed. One where safety is rooted in justice and dignity, not surveillance and control. One where the politics of fear are replaced by a politics of care,’ said Tabitha Lean.
‘Queensland’s children deserve more than this. They deserve care, not cages,’ said Tabitha Lean.
For further comment, please contact Tabitha Lean on 0499 780 226.
