Brisbane Times has obtained police documents detailing how Aboriginal children were held in maximum security facilities, on average, for nine hours longer than non-Indigenous children in 2018.
Although only comprising 5 per cent of Queensland’s total child population, nearly double the amount of Indigenous children were held in watchhouses compared to non-Indigenous children in the same period.
Amnesty International’s Indigenous rights manager Tammy Solonec says the government, and police, must act to address the over-representation of Indigenous children, and called on Minister Di Farmer to explain why Indigenous children spent more time in the harmful conditions of watchhouses.