Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I rise to speak in support of the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Age of Criminal Responsibility) Bill 2019, and I commend the member for Mayo for introducing this very important bill and attempting to address an important issue.

On 20 November this year, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Australia is a proud signatory to. Article 37 of the convention states that children who break the law should not be treated cruelly, should not be put in a prison with adults and should be able to keep in contact with their family. Article 40 states that prison sentences for children should only be only used for the most serious offences. The minimum age of criminal responsibility should be raised to 14. It's not surprising that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on Australia to do so.

Ten is too young. Think of a child in year 4. Think of the children who visit Parliament House. Generally, they come and visit their members when they are in year 5 or year 6 in primary school. We are talking about children younger than those children. In the family law system, a child's view, whilst taken into account, is generally not given significant weight until around 13 or 14 years of age. Yet we are holding them criminally responsible at 10. The medical science is clear: their brains are still developing. Their ability to reason and think through the consequences of their actions is seriously impaired and impacted. As a mother of teenagers, like many in this place, I have seen firsthand the changes our children go through between starting school and adolescence. It beggars belief that we are holding them criminally responsible at 10.

Criminalising children disproportionately harms those who are already the most disadvantaged, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. When children are treated as criminals and jailed or detained, it traps them in a cycle of disadvantage from which many never escape. Once detained, young children are more likely to reoffend, and less likely to complete their education or find employment. Our system is failing our most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. We should be fixing the system and supporting these children, not punishing them for that failure.

Australia is out of step with international standards. The median minimum age of criminal responsibility across the world is 14. Around 600 children below the age of 14 are imprisoned in youth detention centres each year. Seventy per cent are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. This reinforces the systemic disadvantage already faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and must end. Instead of criminalising and jailing young children, we should be addressing the underlying causes of crime, intervening early and diverting children from pathways leading to crime.

There are many wonderful examples throughout Australia of charitable organisations working with communities and governments to do just that. We have the Out-Teach Mobile Education program run by Save the Children, who are doing fantastic work. As parliamentarians, we need to support their work, and the best way for us to do so is to pass the member for Mayo's bill. I thank the House.

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