Lack of training blamed for Qld youth riot

A review into a riot at a north Queensland youth detention centre has found the response to the riot was badly handled because staff weren't adequately trained.

A review into a vicious riot at a youth detention centre in Townsville has found the incident was exacerbated by a lack of staff training.

The riot at the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre on November 10 lasted for 12 hours and resulted in four guards being injured, including one who had to have emergency surgery to reattach his retina after he was hit in the eye.

The review released on Wednesday found the response to the riot was badly handled because of a lack of staff training in procedures and use of personal protective equipment.

It also found the centre director took too long to call police and earlier intervention by officers may have prevented the scale of the riot and even some of the injuries sustained by corrections staff.

The report made 21 findings and six recommendations, including a "comprehensive, whole-of-centre safety and security review".

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath says she visited staff at the Cleveland centre on Wednesday to brief them on the recommendations.

Ms D'Ath told reporters in Townsville the government had accepted all the recommendations of the review and many had already been implemented.

"This is the first time an incident of this severity has occurred in one of our detention centres," she said.

"So it's certainly a learning experience for everybody to look at how it was dealt with."

Shadow attorney-general Ian Walker said he'd spoken to people "close to" the employees affected by the riot, and didn't believe they were being supported.

"At the end of the day, it's the government's responsibility to give proper equipment, proper training and proper lines of command to management and staff," Mr Walker said on Wednesday.

"That's what failed in Townsville, according to the report, and the government bears responsibility for that."

It comes as the Labor government also accepted all 83 recommendations of a separate, broader report into the state's youth detention system, sparked by allegations of abuse of young inmates by guards, including at the Cleveland centre.

That report made special mention of the fact that it had been hampered by time constraints, which had limited the cases it could review and prevented public hearings.

Mr Walker said that was cause for concern, but Ms D'Ath insisted the report was still comprehensive and had to be completed quickly to prevent more unrest in centres.

The government has committed $6.2 million to implement the recommendations in the two reports.

The money will be used in part to fund 53 new full-time staff, including 43 youth detention officers, half of whom will be sent to the Cleveland centre.


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Source: AAP



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