Fears youth justice groups ‘silenced’ with new contract clauses
By Matt Dennien
The news
Critics of the Crisafulli government could be “silenced”, or risk losing crucial funding, community leaders fear, under new restrictions to be written into the contracts of front-line youth justice organisations.
Queensland’s Youth Justice department has flagged new clauses will be written into the contracts of state-funded service providers that bar them from speaking to media without approval.
The department has insisted the terms are “longstanding practice” for contracts across the government and are aimed at ensuring providers uphold privacy requirements written into the Youth Justice Act.
David Crisafulli and Laura Gerber.Credit: Jamila Filippone
But one of those speaking out, Queensland Council of Civil Liberties president Michael Cope, has rejected the explanation, saying: “these clauses are not about that”.
“They simply prohibit the organisations from talking to journalists. Such broadly cast clauses are a clear violation of the right of those organisations to free speech,” Cope told this masthead.
Why it matters
The last LNP state government under then-premier Campbell Newman drew criticism for barring community organisations receiving government from advocating for law changes.
The Crisafulli government, which features several MPs and cabinet members from the Newman era, came to power in October after almost 10 years in opposition with a push to end what it had described as a youth crime “crisis”.
As promised in its campaign, the government has launched and funded a range of new youth justice programs to be delivered by existing and upstart non-government organisations.
What they said
A document dated July 2025 on the Youth Justice department website contains details of the “contractual requirements” for service providers under a “media management” subsection.
The obligations bar contracted groups, and their staff, from sharing any detail about their funded programs with the media. But the requirements also appear to go further.
Only a nominated senior officer can handle media requests, but they may not discuss any “incident” with anyone other than the department and emergency services.
Providers must notify the department immediately if contacted by media with requests for information about the programs, interviews or site visits, and even “general enquiries”.
“When notifying us, you must include the nature of the request, the media outlet, the name of the journalist or reporter and the specific questions or issues raised,” the document says.
“Service providers must not initiate media contact unless it has had verbal authority to do so from the departmental contact officer. Service providers must not continue any contact … unless they receive written authority to do so from the department within 24 hours.”
In response to questions from this masthead, a department spokesperson denied the document itself made any restrictions on organisations advocating publicly or speaking about matters outside of the government-funded programs.
“Media clauses relating to program-specific details and participant information [such as their names or photographs] are longstanding practice for contracts across the state government,” they said.
“Delivery partners for Youth Justice programs are required to uphold privacy requirements under the Youth Justice Act.”
Youth Justice Minister Laura Gerber highlighted the government’s “$560 million of new early intervention and rehabilitation programs to help turn the tide on Labor’s Youth Crime Crisis”.
Gerber also said such clauses were “longstanding practice”. Her office later confirmed the changes were not requested by the minister, but based on Crown Law advice to the department.
Crisafulli’s office did not respond to a question about whether similar requirements were planned for contracts across other sectors.
Another perspective
While Cope agreed the state had a legitimate interest in ensuring funded organisations respect the privacy of those who receive their services, he said someone did not need to be a “cynic” to think the purpose was “to stop these organisations from being critical of the government’s policies”.
“Organisations which deal with youth justice issues on a day-to-day basis are clearly vital participants in the public discussion of youth justice issues,” he said.
“They must not be silenced. The council condemns this crass political attempt by the government to silence its most effective critics on the issue of youth justice.”
Queensland Council of Unions general secretary Jacqueline King said it was “disturbing” the department appeared to be placing restrictions on community organisations which might dampen their ability to advocate.
“While we appreciate the need for organisations to liaise and coordinate about program issues for media events or incidents, the new contract clauses mean community organisations risk breaching and losing their funding contract for speaking up about youth justice issues,” she said.
“If community organisations are silenced about the very matters they stand for then how can they do their jobs and how will Queenslanders know the truth?”
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