Court orders urgent transfer of three children detained unlawfully in Queensland watch houses

Potential test case on the state's use of watch houses to detain children takes unexpected turn, with hundreds possibly affected

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The Queensland supreme court has ordered the urgent transfer of three children from police watch houses by 10pm on Friday, after the state government conceded it had no lawful basis for detaining them in police holding cells.

Advocates say the admission by the state's solicitor general, Gim Del Villar KC, raises concern that potentially hundreds of children have been detained in Queensland's police watch houses, alongside adults, unlawfully.

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