‘Quicksand of crime’: new youth bail law under fire

Robyn Wuth and Ben McKay | July 6, 2026

First there was “Adult Crime, Adult Time”.

Now Queensland’s Liberal National government has a new slogan after bolstering the controversial legislation – “Breach Bail, Go to Jail”.

However the latest stance has been dismissed by critics who claim it won’t save kids from the “quicksand of crime”.

Children as young as 10 who commit serious crimes while on bail will face mandatory jail time under the change trumpeted by Premier David Crisafulli at the LNP’s weekend  conference.

The premier on Monday backed up from the conference to spruik the “Adult Crime, Adult Time” policy expansion, flanked by a Sunshine Coast store owner.

Dicky Beach IGA’s Shane Kensett was beaten by a group of teens in August 2025.

He claimed one of the teens breached his bail conditions by returning to his store in December 2025.

“These new laws that are going to come in are going to have a massive effect,” Mr Kensett told reporters.

Mr Kensett’s backing was part of an “avalanche of support” from victims of crime for the new bail offence set to be made law by year’s end, the premier said.

“I had a number of victims of crime who have reached out to me and said what it means to them personally – it shows we are on the right direction,” Mr Crisafulli said on Monday.

Queensland’s “Adult Crime, Adult Time” laws have been expanded a number of times since the LNP were elected in 2024 – encompassing 45 offences – with similar legislation introduced by Victoria.

The government on Monday said it had expanded the state’s detention centre capacity by 25 per cent with a new facility opening in 2025 and another next year.

However Amnesty Australia said governments should be working to divert children away from prison at all costs.

“We talk about the quicksand of crime – once they get in, they never get out of it,” Indigenous Rights adviser Uncle Rodney Dillon told AAP.

“We’re not saving these kids, we’re locking them into a life of crime.”

He called on leaders to adopt evidence-based “smart justice” instead of slogans, challenging the premier to produce proof that detaining kids made them better citizens.

Mr Dillon described the current system as a “university of crime”, where children were institutionalised into offending.

Corrective service facilities were already under significant strain ahead of the bail law change, Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes said.

“Today there are 28 children in adult watch houses because youth detention centres are at capacity,” she told AAP.

“Detention centres are regularly in lockdown due to staffing shortages, so kids are in isolation for 23 hours a day without access to rehabilitation – that does nothing to interrupt the offending cycle.

“If the government is serious about youth crime, it has to address the root causes  – unsafe homes, family violence, and the failure to provide proper care and treatment – not just keep locking kids away.”

Queensland locks up the most children in the country, with about 300 in detention on an average night according to a 2025 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report.