Former workers within Queensland's youth detention centres are claiming to have been sacked for speaking out about violence inside the institutions.

Key points: One worker claims boy was put in headlock, hit in face with steel can

One worker claims boy was put in headlock, hit in face with steel can Barrister says there are "systematic failures across the system"

Barrister says there are "systematic failures across the system" Says royal commission should be expanded to states beyond NT

They say violent incidents are often downplayed and are backing calls for Queensland to be included in the royal commission into juvenile detention in the NT.

Graham Pattel was a youth worker in the Cleveland Youth Detention Centre in Townsville in north Queensland for eight years.

He said he witnessed excessive force and unnecessary violence against boys in the centre.

"These kids are only about 12 years old. They're going: 'You're hurting me, you're hurting me'. They're really putting some power on them, you know," he said.

Mr Pattel said he was sacked last year for complaining about the centre on social media.

"They shut me up, they charged me under the public service act and went through the process and sacked me. Now, I do not think it was fair," he said.

Another ex-worker from the same Townsville facility, Jeff Ingram, said he had filed numerous reports of excessive force over several years.

Sorry, this video has expired Royal commission should examine Queensland too, says Indigenous barrister

He alleges one incident two years ago involved a senior staff member who put a boy in a headlock and hit him in the face with a steel can.

"When I looked back to see him in the headlock, they actually dropped him on the ground in a headlock," he said.

"How he didn't break his neck I don't know."

Mr Ingram reported the incident and has provided the ABC with evidence of his complaints over the past two years, but he said the issue was not taken seriously.

"They told me that that boy, he attacked with a piece of steel," he said.

"I said to them I was there. I never seen a piece of steel, I just seen that boy running."

Mr Ingram was also sacked by the facility last week, he said, for hugging a group of female prisoners and breaching the centre's code of conduct.

He has denied any wrongdoing and said the allegations were made up to silence him.

'Systematic failures across system'

The ABC has spoken to a third sacked worker with similar complaints against the facility.

All three workers said the centre had made improvements in recent years to restrict time in isolation to only two hours and reduce violence, but they said it was not enough.

Indigenous barrister Joshua Creamer and others in the legal profession are calling on the royal commission in Northern Territory to include Queensland and other states.

"There's systemic failures across the system," Mr Creamer said.

"And what you're being told and what I'm hearing about what happens in Queensland is similar to things I'm hearing happening in other states, so why should we restrict this royal commission to Northern Territory only?"

He said the case of an 11-year-old boy in detention in Brisbane who suffered two black eyes and a bruised jaw in December last year was an example of the system failing.

A review of the case by the police and the internal ethical standards unit deemed the boy's injuries were accidental.

The case is now under investigation by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

A-G says punitive force opposed

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said she was confident staff in detention facilities were trained appropriately during the incident.

"Our absolute focus is on de-escalating incidents as opposed to any punitive force," she said.

Ms D'Ath could not be contacted to comment on the sacking of workers or allegations of cover-ups, but earlier claimed that appropriate systems were in place for detainees and workers to report incidents without fear of reprisals.

"There would be consequences if someone took retribution because someone made a complaint," she said.

"Obviously there's whistleblowers protections, there's other protections there for people coming forward."

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she did not believe a royal commission into the problems in the Northern Territory should be expanded to include Queensland.

Ms Palaszczuk also said the State Government was considering taking 17-year-olds out of adult prisons in Queensland, but it was not the priority.

She said while 17-year-olds might be moved to youth detention in the future, there was no timeframe.

"I've actually been out there in the past and visited — they are actually separate from the rest of the adult population," she said.

"My focus is getting young children — as young as 10 to 13 — out of youth detention. That is our firm focus at the moment.

"Let's focus on that and then we can look at that secondary issue."