Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

I should point out that this is not a criminal regime for underage individuals that is being proposed here. This is a civil penalties regime that has application to the whole community. As I indicated before, the intention is that this is something that would be used in the case of repeat offenders, where other remedies have been ineffective. Senator Steele-John is quite right to point out there is a range of alternative remedies and it's appropriate that they are pursued. But, where you have repeat offenders, it is appropriate that we have a civil penalties regime in place. Just because a person is under the age of 18 does not mean that they are necessarily without the capacity to determine right from wrong. We are very much of the view that this is appropriate.

If I do follow the logic of what Senator Steele-John has said, however, I would assume, although I suspect it's not the case, that Senator Steele-John will not be supporting the criminal provisions put forward by NXT, because, to my understanding, they would apply to people below the age of 18. The government is not putting in place, through this legislation, a criminal regime to apply to people below the age of 18. I'm not suggesting that, where there are criminal provisions, they shouldn't apply to people below the age of 18, but I'm just seeking to follow the thread through with Senator Steele-John as to what the implications of his position in relation to the civil penalties regime might be for his stance in relation to criminal penalties amendments that might be moved later.