The latest figures have been released as the state government makes changes to allow greater children’s court access for media and victims.

Data revealed on Monday shows about 70 per cent of 3500 children charged with a crime have committed another offence within 12 months.

Of those, 20 per cent are children who are repeatedly before the system due to consistent offending.

“They cannot be turned around in a couple of weeks with a dinky little program,” Youth Justice Minister Di Farmer said.

Serious offenders are cause for concern, even though the number of young people offending is declining – a 45 per cent decrease over 15 years – she added.

Fifty-three kids have been declared serious repeat offenders in the last nine months of 2023. That is about 1.6 per cent of kids charged with a crime.

Serious repeat offenders are kids who have a high risk of committing another indictable offence, have had at least one detention order, and have a criminal history.

“There is entrenched criminal behaviour and entrenched disadvantage,” Ms Farmer said.

Programs like intensive case management, where a case worker assists a family for 12 months to reduce the risk of reoffending, are needed for kids in a cycle of crime, she said.

The government released youth reoffender data on Monday, a year after pledging to publish it every six months.

The opposition criticised the data delay as another broken promise on transparency from the government.

“Instead of being a priority to fix youth crime, this government’s priority is to hide data to protect themselves,” Opposition leader David Crisafulli told reporters in Townsville on Monday.

On another front, Premier Steven Miles announced cabinet had agreed to proceed with legislative changes that will allow greater access for media and victims to the children’s court.

The move was initiated after 70-year-old grandmother Vyleen White was fatally stabbed outside a shopping centre west of Brisbane earlier in February.

Mr Miles sought changes after the 16-year-old boy charged with murder appeared in a closed court hearing, with a magistrate refusing media access.

Proposed legislative changes include allowing family of a deceased victim to attend children’s court, providing the court power to direct media to leave, and continuing to protect a child offender’s privacy by suppressing their identity.

The key amendment will be the provision that allows magistrates to bar media from attending if their presence is deemed prejudicial to the interests of the child.

“What we want to achieve is a result where more often media are allowed into the court and only removed when necessary,” Mr Miles said.

The government hopes to introduce the changes as quickly as possible.