Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

A 14-year-old person who is, in this hypothetical circumstance, subject to a control order can be placed on what I would describe as a curfew: there can be time frames applied within which the person can or cannot do certain things. We are talking about a 14-year-old child. I think we can agree that 'child' is a reasonable definition of a 14-year-old. Have you applied your mind to a situation where the parents of that child makes that child do a thing that is in breach of the control order? You would have to say that a 14-year-old is not a fully developed adult. I think that our broad legal framework in this country would accept that statement. They are, at least in some cases, able to be heavily influenced by their parents. For example, a parent might insist that a child accompany them to a family event. The child is then caught in a very difficult situation, I think you would agree, where their parents are saying, 'You've got to come to Aunty Flo's wedding,' or whatever it happens to be, the child is in, quite frankly, an awful situation where they are going to have to either disobey their parents, with the ramifications that that can bring, or breach the order, with all the ramifications that that can bring.