On Tuesday 27 October 2026 I asked the Youth Justice Minister, during Question Time, whether the Government defunded the Youth Advocacy Centre (YAC) in retaliation for its criticism of the Government. You can read my full question and the Minister's answer below, or in the official transcript of Parliamentary Proceedings (Hansard).
Mr BERKMAN: My question is to the Minister for Youth Justice. The government has defunded the Youth Advocacy Centre’s bail support program, despite the department’s own evaluation report finding its intensive bail initiative reduced the frequency and seriousness of offending. Does the decision to defund this effective bail support program have anything to do with Youth Advocacy Centre’s vocal criticism of government policies?
Mrs GERBER: Firstly, I want to completely refute what the member for Maiwar has said. It is a completely flawed argument. It is a hard no. What the Crisafulli government has done is introduce a brand new program to reduce reoffending on bail called Risk Response Bail. There was an independent tender process with the department and an independent probity adviser. It was a very competitive tender and selection process. There were 13 organisations from across Queensland selected to deliver the Risk Response Bail program. The Youth Advocacy Centre was not successful in that. It delivered the former Labor government’s failed bail programs. It delivered a program that saw youth offenders on bail reoffend 60 per cent of the time. When it comes to serious repeat offenders, it got even worse. Under that failed program, serious repeat offenders reoffended on bail 89 per cent. That is not a program that worked. That is why there are strict KPIs in our new Risk Response Bail program to prevent reoffending so that we end up fixing the crisis that Labor left us and turn that around, because those failed programs that Labor had for bail did not work, and Queenslanders know it did not work. They voted for change and we are delivering that change.
Our Risk Response Bail program provides intensive bail support for youths, and we are coupling that with our strong laws. Today is a very significant day in parliament with our strong laws being debated, and they will be passed. Coupled with that are these bail support programs to provide intensive support to youths on bail. Providers have to contact youths within 24 hours to provide that bail support. This is all about ensuring we deliver not just strong laws but also intensive rehabilitation and early intervention, and that is in stark contrast to what happened under the previous Labor government.
Under the previous Labor government we saw a complete failure to invest in effective early intervention and rehabilitation. In fact, its idea of rehabilitation was a long weekend for youth offenders released from detention. Some 72 hours was the only support it provided youth offenders when they were released from detention. Our Staying on Track program provides 12 months of support—an intensive six months and 12 months in total—so that we can turn those young lives around, and that is in stark contrast to the failed programs that Labor rolled out that saw 60 per cent of youths given bail go on to reoffend. That is why we are delivering our brand new program with an independent tender process, with the providers independently selected. No contracts were cut. That is a complete falsehood. We are doing this because we need to turn around the youth crime crisis that Labor left us.