Keeping kids in watch houses: why the Queensland government could change the law to suit itself

Possible robodebt' scenario left Labor to either move the children or suspend the Human Rights Act - and it chose the latter

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Queensland Labor MPs found out on Monday that they were expected to vote to suspend the state's Human Rights Act, for a second time, to allow for the indefinite detention of children in adult police watch houses.

No one else seemed to have any warning. On Wednesday afternoon - on a particularly dreary day in state parliament - the police minister, Mark Ryan, tacked the law change on to an unrelated child safety bill, allowing it to pass through parliament the following day with no committee scrutiny.