Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In respect of the National Children's Commissioner's children's rights report of 2019, In their own right: children's rights in Australia, I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

This is an extremely important report from the Children's Commissioner, Megan Mitchell, and I congratulate her on this report. She starts the report by saying:

As National Children's Commissioner, I want to see that all Australia's children grow up loved, safe and respected, are heard, and have every opportunity to realise their full potential.

I'm sure that everybody in this place agrees with her in those comments at the opening of this very important report, and I urge all parliamentarians to read this report.

Her report makes 83 recommendations, and it tells the story of how well children's rights are being protected and promoted across Australia. Sadly, it shows that there are too many of Australia's children whose rights are not being adequately protected. The alarming trends highlighted in this report include: child deaths by suicide and hospitalisations for intentional self-harm have increased; approximately 17 per cent of children under the age of 15 live in poverty; there has been a 27 per cent increase in reported substantiations of child abuse and neglect; and the number of children in out-of-home care has increased by 18 per cent over the last five years.

As I said, there are 83 excellent recommendations in this report which I think need implementation. The report recommends we develop a national plan for child wellbeing. How sensible and essential is that? Absolutely essential. It also recommends prevention and early intervention programs to reduce the number of children entering our child protection systems, in which, as I said, there has been a disgraceful 18 per cent increase over the last five years. It talks about removing barriers to sustained reunification of children with their families, something which is not happening and we're not putting enough resources into. Importantly, it talks about increasing the age of leaving out-of-home care so that children can stay in out-of-home care longer than the current 18 years, which is about the standard around Australia. It also talks about making transition payments longer for young people leaving out-of-home care.

I also want to draw the Senate's attention to the issue of youth justice, which is also covered extensively in this report. There is still a significant number of children in Australia who are subject to punitive approaches and who are caught up in the offending and punishment cycle. In 2017-18, 974 children were in youth justice detention. Sixty per cent of these children were in fact unsentenced, with 56 per cent being First Nations children. The reality is that children as young as 10 years of age have been put in detention in Australia. As a result, we are failing children in this country, especially our First Nations children.

There are many reasons for raising the age of criminal responsibility, including that it would decrease the over-representation of First Nations children in detention. Children have not developed the requisite level of maturity to form the necessary intent for full criminal responsibility and children have lack of capacity to properly engage in the criminal justice system. That's why the Greens support the recommendation made by the Children's Commissioner to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least the age of 14 years. Kids are being locked up across Australia when the detention of children should in fact be the last resort. We urgently need to implement the reforms to the criminal justice system, many of which were outlined in the Northern Territory royal commission and its many excellent recommendations.

If we are serious about reducing the over-representation of First Nations children in the youth justice system, we need to raise the age of criminal responsibility immediately. Once again, I urge the Senate and members of the House of Representatives to read this excellent report and the 83 recommendations which would make the lives of children in this country much better. We need a national plan for child wellbeing. We need a senior minister to take responsibility for children's wellbeing. If we look after children's wellbeing, they'll grow into healthy, happy adults and that will make such a difference to this country. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.