Governments must act on justice department advice to #RaiseTheAge to at least 14

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations today welcomed the release of a government report and called on Attorneys-General to immediately act on its recommendation to raise the age of criminal responsibility with no exceptions.

The report, released late on Friday after the Standing Council of Attorneys-General meeting, was prepared by a Working Group chaired by the Western Australian Department of Justice, and included representation from justice departments from each State, Territory and the Commonwealth government. The report was on the agenda for discussion at the request of the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC.

Page 79 of the Council of Attorneys-General Age of Criminal Responsibility Working Group report lists recommendations based on the findings of the review stating: “A primary recommendation to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years without exceptions.”

The report, prepared in 2020, was informed by over 90 public submissions made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, health, legal and human rights organisations and experts. The Human Rights Law Centre previously made repeated Freedom of Information requests to obtain a copy of the report, with all requests refused.

The current low age of criminal responsibility disproportionately impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and is a key driver of contact with police and the criminal legal system. Raising the age would reduce the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in prisons and help governments meet their Closing The Gap targets. The report noted that to turn “the tide on First Nations incarceration rates requires Commonwealth, state and territory governments to work in partnership with First Nations people and organisations.”

The alliance calls on all governments to fund alternatives to incarceration. Diversionary and support programs already exist and evaluations have shown them to be effective. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and organisations lead many of these programs.

Cheryl Axleby, Change the Record said:

“The release of this report is long overdue. It tells Attorneys-General what we have always known - no child should be handcuffed, dragged before courts or locked in police and prison cells.

“One of the key recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was to stop locking up our children. The crises of mass incarceration of our mob and Blak deaths in custody will not end as long as governments across this continent continue criminalising and hurting our kids. It’s long past time for governments to listen to us, to the experts and the evidence, and support our kids to be safe and strong in community where they belong.”

Jamie McConnachie, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service said:

“NATSILS stands with communities who have demanded stronger, more ambitious targets to be set to end the incarceration of our children.

“We remain hopeful that systemic and structural changes in joined up policy approaches and Priority Reform Areas in the Closing the Gap Agreement and Justice Policy Partnership will lead to real and long lasting change for our people. Nationally coordinated justice policy reforms across all states and territories is needed and precipitates.” Recently, the Minister for Indigenous Australians The Hon. Linda Burney MP stated so accurately, “The Closing the Gap architecture can only work when all parties are invested and there is a coordinated effort from all jurisdictions in partnership with First Nations peoples,” she said. “We have to work more closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to make real and much needed progress.”

Monique Hurley, Human Rights Law Centre said:

“For over two years, Attorneys-General across the country have been sitting on this report that recommends increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 without exceptions. It adds to the mountain of evidence that is crystal clear – children belong in playgrounds and schools, never in prisons and police cells. Every day that our chief law officers refuse to act on this straightforward reform, they are condemning a generation of children to the harm inherent in being locked away behind bars. Governments across Australia must act now and raise the age to at least 14 years old.”

Dr Jacqueline Small, Paediatrician and President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians

“Now is the time to act on the medical advice and implement the recommendations of the report provided to the Council of Attorneys General, and finally update legislation to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14.”

Kacey Teerman, Amnesty International said:
“There’s a history of the Government concealing the truth when it comes to First Nations communities particularly where law and justice are concerned. It is really disappointing that we are being asked to celebrate the release of this report when we could have been making progress for the past two years while it was kept from the public. Every state and territory government should make up for lost time and act to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 without exception as soon as possible.”