Controversial youth justice laws will now address what's been labelled as one state's "regional crime crisis", a leading advocate says.
The Queensland government is cracking down on juvenile crime, introducing legislation that has been slammed by human rights lawyers and Aboriginal leaders.
The state was singled out for its tough stance by Indigenous human rights experts who lodged a complaint this week, urging the United Nations to address Australia's "discriminatory" youth justice policies.
The Queensland government on Wednesday expanded its youth justice laws to 33 offences, pointing to the latest crime statistics.
Originally passed in December as part of the Liberal National Party's election commitment, the laws allow children as young as 10 to be charged and tried as adults for serious offences.
But a leading advocate said the laws do not address the broader societal issues behind rising crime in Queensland.
"Queensland isn't so much in a youth crime crisis, but is in a regional crime crisis," Youth Advocacy Centre chief executive Katherine Hayes told AAP.
"The rates of crime in northwest and north Queensland are high in every measure, and the high rate of youth crime in those areas is a symptom of the broader dysfunction in those areas that isn't being addressed."
The Crime Report Queensland 2023/24 revealed outback Queensland continued to lead the crime rate for recorded offences per 100,000 people, followed by Townsville and Cairns.
The number of domestic violence protection order breaches exceeded drug offences for the first time.
"A lot of the kids that we see in the youth justice system come from families that have domestic and family violence," Ms Hayes said.
"It means they don't have a safe place to live, and often are traumatised from a very young age, and then turn to that criminal path for a sense of belonging, or in some cases a sense of family in a less productive environment."
More than 7000 youths were charged with stealing cars in the latest state crime data, up from 2155 a decade ago.
Juvenile break-ins almost doubled over the same period.
Queensland's LNP campaigned hard on youth crime before claiming the 2024 election, prompting tough new juvenile justice legislation.
Children can now be treated as adults for offences such as attempted murder, rape, torture, aggravated attempted robbery and drug trafficking under the second tranche of laws tabled to parliament this week.
The government also moved amendments on Thursday to expand police wanding laws to all public spaces, while also making it permanent.
It is dubbed "Jack's Law" after teenager Jack Beasley was fatally stabbed on a night out on Queensland's Gold Coast.
The wanding powers allow police to randomly search people without a warrant for weapons.
Police have seized 1058 weapons since it was first trialled.
Queensland was cited by Indigenous legal experts who filed a complaint with the United Nations, pointing to what they said was systemic racial discrimination in criminal laws nationwide.
