Department of Youth Justice

Queensland Budget 2024-25 · Miles Government

Minister
Dianne Farmer MP
Department head
Director-General Bob Gee

As at budget day (2024-06-11)

$481.5M
Total expenses
$221.1M
Capital program
$18M
4 tracked measures
2,277
FTE staff

Key service areas

Youth Justice

Budget initiatives

Wacol Youth Remand Centre$149.2M totalNewAnnounced

Funding to operate the Wacol Youth Remand Centre as a youth detention centre, including educational, health and welfare services for young people in detention.

The Wacol Youth Remand Centre operates as a youth detention centre to provide interim detention capacity, with education, health and welfare services for young people in detention, part of the Community Safety Plan.

General Government operating, total $149.2M over 3 years across Youth Justice, Education, Health, Police and the Ombudsman. Year-by-year split combined across agencies.

Woodford Youth Detention Centre$628M totalNewCapitalAnnounced

Construction and operation of a new youth detention centre at the Woodford Correctional Precinct, including operational, establishment and capital funding.

A new youth detention centre at the Woodford Correctional Precinct adds detention capacity for young offenders, with $628 million committed over five years as part of the Community Safety Plan.

Capital and operating. BP1 references $628M over 5 years for the new youth detention centre. Capital measures show $185.05M in 2024-25; operational and establishment funding totals $261.4M over 4 years plus $89.2M per annum ongoing across agencies.

Youth Co-Responder Teams Expansion$5.9MExpandedAnnounced

Establishment and expansion of Youth Co-Responder Teams across the Sunshine Coast, South West, Gold Coast, Brisbane South and Cairns to divert high-risk young people.

Youth Co-Responder Teams pairing youth workers with police are expanded to more regions to engage and divert high-risk young people, including those on bail or electronic monitoring.

2024-25: $5.9M2025-26: $5.3M

General Government operating, $11.2M over 2 years (Youth Justice component). Part of total $13.6M across agencies and the $1.28B Community Safety Plan.

Targeted Responses to Emerging Youth Crime$12MNewAnnounced

Funding to enable targeted and immediate responses to emerging youth crime and to expand the On Country Program.

Funding enables fast, targeted responses to youth crime hotspots and expands the On Country Program, which connects young people with culture and community as an alternative to offending.

2023-24: $6M2024-25: $12M2025-26: $6M

General Government operating, $24M over 2 years, held centrally

Forward estimates

Year-by-year allocations for 2 measures with published forward profiles.

Measure2023-242024-252025-26Total
Youth Co-Responder Teams Expansion$5.9M$5.3M$11.2M
Targeted Responses to Emerging Youth Crime$6M$12M$6M$24.0M
Total$6.0M$17.9M$11.3M$35.2M

Performance metrics

Service standards from the Service Delivery Statement. Targets and actuals as published.

MetricPrior targetActualTarget
2024-252024-252025-26
Percentage of orders supervised in the community that are successfully completed — All young offenders85%81%85%
Proportion of young offenders who have another charged offence or are referred to a Restorative Justice Conference within 12 months of an initial finalisation for a proven offence69%70%69%
Average daily number of young people in detention centres, rate per 10,000 population — Total5.35.95.3
Youth detention centre utilisation rate99%99%99%
Cost per young offender supervised in the community per day$363.71$293.92$300.00

Source: Service Delivery Statement. Prior target and actual are for 2024-25; target is for 2025-26.

Source document

Service Delivery Statement — Department of Youth Justice (PDF)

Last updated: 2026-06-20. Factual information from published budget documents.