Politics · Australia · 3 hrs ago
Queensland ombudsman drops call to close Wacol youth remand centre
Queensland’s ombudsman, Anthony Reilly, has stepped back from calling for the Wacol youth remand centre near Brisbane to close.
An inspection found children there can face limited space, privacy and natural light, and some stay for more than a month.
Wacol was built as a police watch house and is often used for Indigenous children from north Queensland when the Cleveland centre in Townsville is overcrowded.
Staff said some children had harmed themselves in an effort to be moved to another centre.
Wacol has reduced the number of children held in police watch houses, but advocates say it shifts the problem to a facility that is also unsuitable for children.
Reilly now says Wacol may be needed because new state bail laws could increase the number of children detained, leaving existing centres, including a new one being built at Woodford, short of space.
He warns that without enough capacity, more children could spend long periods in police watch houses.
Queensland ombudsman Anthony Reilly has dropped his call to close the Wacol youth remand centre when a new facility opens.
Reilly says Wacol is unsuitable for holding children but could be preferable to detaining them in police watch houses if youth detention centres run out of capacity.
His latest report warns that new state bail laws could increase the number of children detained.
The report says some children at Wacol stayed for more than a month and that some self-harmed in an attempt to be transferred.
Sisters Inside chief executive Debbie Kilroy criticised the decision, saying it allows the government’s plans to imprison more children to shape what the watchdog will tolerate.
- Who
- Queensland ombudsman Anthony Reilly and Sisters Inside, which supports women and girls in custody.
- What
- Reilly has backed away from calling for Wacol to close when the new Woodford youth detention centre opens.
- When
- The report was published the week before the article, published on 12 October 2026.
- Where
- Wacol, near Brisbane, Queensland.
- Why
- Reilly warned that new bail laws could leave youth detention centres without enough capacity, increasing reliance on police watch houses.
Anthony Reilly, Queensland ombudsman
Sisters Inside
Wacol’s future
Anthony Reilly, Queensland ombudsman
Reilly says Wacol is unsuitable for detaining children but should remain available if it can reduce the number held in watch houses and the length of their stays.
Sisters Inside
Sisters Inside says the centre is unsuitable for children and criticises the decision not to demand its closure.
Government bail laws and detention
Anthony Reilly, Queensland ombudsman
Reilly warns the new laws could increase the number of children needing detention and create pressure on available facilities.
Sisters Inside
Kilroy says the backdown allows the government’s determination to imprison more children to dictate what the watchdog tolerates.
Reilly called for Wacol to close when the new Woodford youth detention centre opens.
Reilly published an inspection report raising concerns about Wacol’s suitability for holding children for extended periods.
Guardian Australia reported that Reilly had backed away from his call to close Wacol.
- Wacol location
- Near Brisbane, Queensland
- New youth detention centre
- Woodford
- Report author
- Anthony Reilly, Queensland ombudsman
- Children’s stays at Wacol
- Some stayed for longer than a month
- Transfer-related behaviour
- Staff told inspectors that some children self-harmed to influence and expedite their transfer to another centre.
What people are saying
While we do not consider the centre to be a suitable facility for the detention of children, we consider it to be more suitable than detention in police watch-houses.
The ombudsman has identified that Wacol is unsuitable for children, then backed away from demanding its closure because the government intends to lock up even more of them,
a gutless retreat
Sources
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