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

I rise to speak on the National Commission for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Bill 2026. Firstly, I want to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet, and I pay respect to their elders past, present and emerging and the same to those of the Warringah region. This bill converts the existing national commission into a statutory agency and makes the national commissioner a statutory officer with legislated functions and powers to advance the rights, interests, safety, development and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. The bill is supported by a real financial commitment from the government—$33 million over the forward estimates and nearly $10 million ongoing. The problems the commission will address are structural and inter-generational, and they cannot be solved on a short timeframe, so I hope that that appropriate funding will continue in a meaningful way.

The commission will hold genuine statutory independence. This is important. It will be given powers of inquiry, legal protection for actions taken in good faith and the ability to table documents in parliament and to co-ordinate across government on issues impacting the rights and wellbeing of young Indigenous Australians. I welcome this. The commissioner may also provide formal advice to the Commonwealth on policies, programs and services affecting those children and young people, including the commission of research.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have long been overrepresented in youth and adult justice systems in Australia. In 2023-24 First Nations young people aged 10 to 17 were about 20 times more likely than non-Indigenous young people to be under youth justice supervision on any given day. This is despite outcome 11 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap—that First Nations must not be overrepresented in the criminal justice system. A target to reduce the number of children in detention by 30 per cent by 2030-31 is woefully out of reach at the moment. These figures are underscored by a broader overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the justice system among the adult population, accounting for roughly 37 per cent of people in custody, nationally.

All experts indicate very clearly that, when children are caught up in the justice system from such a young age, it only leads to bad outcomes. It increases the likelihood of recidivism and ongoing engagement with the justice system, and it is failing young people, particularly young Indigenous people. It often arises out of the failure of other support systems—whether it is health, educational support or social services—around young people and their families. It's usually other systems having failed that leads us to this problem. It's been really concerning to see the rise in state and territory governments pushing for an age of criminality of 10, when the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has made it clear that it should be raised to 14. No-one wins with a policy of engaging young offenders in the justice system. We lose the potential of so many young people, and we end up with a disproportionate cost. Unfortunately, it doesn't solve anything.

The National Agreement on Closing the Gap sets out 19 socioeconomic targets across key life outcomes: health, education, employment, housing, child protection and justice. They were developed in formal partnership with the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations. Last year's Closing the Gap annual data compilation report by the Productivity Commission showed that efforts to improve outcomes for First Nations Australians are having mixed results. Outcomes are improving for targets such as preschool enrolment and employment, but they continue to worsen for life expectancy and incarceration rates for adults and youth. This is clearly a problem area, and I hope this commission will start to make a difference.

This bill is a constructive reform because it gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people a national champion that is structurally positioned to co-ordinate across governments, drive attention to systemic issues and insist on evidence- and rights-based public policy, but this is not going to be a fix-all. It has to be paired with a clear national commitment to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14, consistent with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's guidance as well as contemporary developmental science. The ACT has shown that such reform is possible, moving its minimum age to 14. However, most other states and territories are lagging far behind, with cruel and, I would argue, discriminatory policies in place that see a rise in youth being caught up in the justice system, rather than addressing the social and surrounding issues that lead to the problematic behaviour.

We can't talk about children's rights seriously without acknowledging that Australia's protections are incredibly fragmented. We have treaty obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but we don't have a uniform, enforceable domestic rights framework at the federal level. When this is raised, it's often said that the Criminal Code and the age of criminality refer back to state and territory jurisdictions, but legal advice has been obtained that our ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child brings a responsibility and the powers, at a federal level, to ratify a minimum age of 14. That's why I've been calling for a national rights-of-the-child framework for some time, and I will continue pushing the government to do that. There is a responsibility in this place to set that national age and to override state and territory laws that are prejudicial to the rights of young people, if one thinks of our ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The bills are consistent with that direction. I welcome them because they are built on genuine consultation with Indigenous people and representative bodies such as the Human Rights Commission and SNAICC, the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

A very high proportion of Indigenous young people have also had contact with child protection services. Almost two in three young people under youth justice supervision in 2022-23 had interacted with the child protection system in the previous 10-year period. If we are willing to fund a national commission, we must also be willing to reform the laws that keep failing Indigenous children nationwide.

We had a very heated debate across the nation only a short time ago around what should have resulted in the proper recognition of First Australians in our Constitution. Our system is failing categorically. My community of Warringah overwhelmingly voted in favour of that recognition and continually urges me to support legislation and ways in which I can be an ally and the community of Warringah can be an ally. I welcome this legislation but urge the government to look beyond that. We have to look to the age of criminal responsibility. It must be consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the recommendation that it be set at age 14.

I commend these bills. They are a necessary national institution building step, grounded in genuine consultation with Indigenous Australians, and represent a step forward in confronting the inequities faced by Indigenous children in Australia. However, it remains clear that Australia must go much further on children's rights, including youth justice reform.

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