R. Hil et L. Roughley, PUBLIC CONSULTATION AND JUVENILE JUSTICE REFORM - A QUEENSLAND CASE-STUDY, Australian journal of social issues, 32(1), 1997, pp. 21-36
The paper examines critically the relationship between the rhetoric an
d reality of the then Queensland Government's consultation procedures
in relation to the 1992 Juvenile Justice Bill. It is argued that altho
ugh the State Government viewed consultation as central to the process
of social policy reform, the steps adopted to achieve this in the cas
e of the Juvenile Justice Bill were regarded widely as inadequate in a
number of important respects. We contend that such shortcomings were
generated by a number of interconnected factors, not least being the Q
ueensland Government's hasty attempt to appease public concern over ju
venile crime. and the absence of a practise model to implement it's st
ated aims of public consultation. This in turn sewed to enhance the po
litical legitimacy of the Labor Government in the period prior to its
re-election in September 1992.