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

In all Australian states and territories, kids as young as 10 years old can be sent to prison. I don't know how many times I need to say it in this place, but I'll say it again: children do not belong in prison. Australia is seriously out of step with the rest of the world, the medical community and human rights standards.

Last year the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended 14 years as the minimum age of criminal responsibility. The science shows that children under 14 years of age lack impulse control and have a poorly developed capacity to plan and foresee consequences. Children in grades 4, 5 and 6 do not have the cognitive development to be held criminally responsible for their actions. There are a high number of kids in our youth justice system, and many have mental health issues and cognitive impairment. Research from 2018 found that nine out of 10 young people in youth detention in my home state of Western Australia were severely impaired in at least one area of brain function. Young children in the justice system also have high rates of pre-existing trauma. Criminalisation and imprisonment only contribute to their pre-existing trauma. Separating children from their families through detention is extremely harmful to children's health and development. How can we lock up these kids when they don't have the cognitive ability to understand the consequences of their actions?

In 2018-19, more than 570 children under 14 years old were placed in juvenile detention. Sixty-five per cent of these children were First Nations children. First Nations children are overrepresented at every stage of the criminal justice system. When Australia locks up children as young as 10, it has a devastating impact on First Nations communities. In some places, First Nations children are being stopped by police, put in handcuffs and thrown into cells at up to 43 times the rate of non-Indigenous children. What kind of life are we setting up these children for? Children deserve to be nurtured in their families and communities. Children need to be at school. They need love and support, not handcuffs and prisons.

We have a responsibility in this place to do what is in the best interests of children. Raising the age of criminal responsibility will make our communities safer and give kids the best possible chance of a good life. Raising the age of criminal responsibility is in the best interests of all children in Australia, especially First Nations children.

I would like to take a moment to commend community leaders, especially the work that's being done by Change the Record and NATSILS in their relentless campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility. Their campaign increased in momentum ahead of the meeting of the Council of Attorneys-General in July. I know how disappointing it was to hear that the council decided to again delay making a decision on the age of criminal responsibility—this time until 2021. I'm deeply concerned that next time they'll make the decision to delay it for another year, and then another year. If the council had decided to raise the age, this would have immediately reduced the level of incarceration of First Nations children by at least 17 per cent. We have missed an opportunity to make real change. This decision shows just how out of touch governments across this country are when it comes to this critical issue.

Both international and national evidence shows that locking up kids does not keep the community safe or reduce future offending. So why are we doing it, and what should we be doing instead? We need to start by raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old. The ACT Greens leader, Shane Rattenbury, paved the way this month by introducing a motion that committed the ACT government to raising the age of criminal responsibility in the ACT. The Legislative Assembly voted in favour of this motion, which is a first for our country. States and territories are now being forced to go it alone because the Commonwealth has been too slow to act. Once again, the Commonwealth is failing to show leadership.

Australia's juvenile justice system is based on a false economy. The financial burden of keeping young people in prison is huge. In 2017-18, youth detention cost the government more than $509 million. This money would be much better spent on early intervention, prevention and rehabilitation services and programs which address the underlying causes of criminal behaviour and prevent future offending. Now is our chance to reimagine our justice system by implementing justice reinvestment and diversionary programs. These approaches are much more effective in keeping kids out of the justice system.

I've seen firsthand the work being done in Bourke by innovative community leadership in their justice reinvestment program. It's an incredible example of an innovative approach to community based intervention. It works by addressing the causes of offending before it begins. It's working across the community. Police, non-government organisations and, very importantly, the tribal council, led by elders in the community, are working together to address this problem. It demonstrates what can be done.

Punitive approaches do not work. They entrench disadvantage. How can we be serious about justice targets and closing the gap if there is no commitment to raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years of age? Ensuring that First Nations children are not imprisoned or having to go through the trauma of the criminal justice system will go a long way to also getting adults out of prison and, in fact, adults not being in prison. I urge all governments to look at the leadership being displayed in the ACT. We should take urgent action to stop young kids from going to prison by raising the age of criminal responsibility as soon as possible.

Raising the age of criminal responsibility was a recommendation of the royal commission into the Northern Territory youth justice system. We are leaving it far too long since we saw those recommendations to ensure that we are taking action. There are many other actions recommended in that very impressive report. There are many recommendations that are not being implemented, and the Commonwealth continues to wash its hands of responsibility. It is not good enough. We need leadership from the Commonwealth to ensure that we are moving much more quickly than years down the track, which is what the process is at the moment. We need to be acting now to raise the age of criminal responsibility so children do not end up in our criminal justice system.

Senate adjourned at 17 : 52