Plans to repurpose the Caloundra watchhouse into a temporary, short-term youth remand centre will no longer proceed after extensive community consultation, Youth Justice Minister Leanne Linard announced today.
“Last year we announced that Caloundra residents and businesses would have their say on plans to repurpose the existing watchhouse to a short-term remand centre for young people,” Ms Linard said.
“As a government, we assured the community that we would listen to their views and we meant it.
“The department and the Member for Caloundra Jason Hunt were part of an extensive community consultation process.”
She said the consultation process found that Caloundra wasn’t the right place for the temporary centre.
“We welcome the feedback, we listened to the community’s concerns and we have acted on those concerns.
“I’d also like to thank Jason for being a passionate advocate for Caloundra and the residents in his community.
“His input on behalf of his community has been invaluable.”
The Caloundra watchhouse will continue to be used by police as an operational watchhouse and the government will continue to progress the business case announced last year for additional youth detention capacity in Queensland, the Minister said.
Ms Linard said the Queensland Government introduced tough new youth justice reforms in 2021 to ensure recidivist offenders were accountable for their actions.
“We remain committed to community safety and ensuring that young people who need to be detained are kept in safe and secure custody,” she said.
