Queensland to Track Youth Offenders With GPS Ankle Monitors

Queensland will allow youth offenders to be GPS tracked while on bail, in a new law passed through state parliament.

A sign can be seen outside the Brisbane Watch House in Brisbane, Australia, on July 12, 2024. Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images

The Queensland government has introduced new laws that will see youth offenders fitted with GPS monitors while on bail.

These offenders, aged from 10 to 17, will have their whereabouts tracked 24 hours a day, even if their bail is for a first offence.

Minister for Youth Justice Laura Gerber said the Youth Justice (Electronic Monitoring) Amendment Bill 2025 will drive down crime.

“The former Labor government continuously weakened youth crime laws, made detention a last resort, abolished breach of bail as an offence and created a generation of serious repeat offenders,” Minister Gerber said in a statement.

“By putting more GPS trackers on youth offenders on bail, alongside intensive support services, we will reduce reoffending, have fewer victims of crime and safer communities.”

Electronic monitoring devices are supposed to cut the likelihood of reoffending by 24 percent, according government figures.

Opponent of the Bill

Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion (QAI) is one of a number of organisations against the bill.

QAI Chief Executive Matilda Alexander said it was inappropriate for children, and would reduce access to places like schools.

“There has been an approximate 2,000 percent increase in children found unfit for trial or unsound of mind in the youth justice system,” she wrote.

“Often these children have intellectual disability, psychosocial disability, or cognitive impairment.”

Alexander said many children lacked capacity to understand complex bail conditions, and the amendments would remove prescribed requirements for suitability assessment.

“Introducing electronic monitoring in this context does not enhance community safety,” Alexander said. “It significantly increases the risk of unintentional breaches.”