Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to ask the minister whether he is aware that there is a very, very substantive amount of research in the area of child justice that directly contravenes the idea of the application of criminal or civil penalties to people under the age of 18, due to the physiological reality that the development of a child is not at the same stage as the development of an adult and so it is most appropriate to apply diversionary, rehabilitative and educational approaches in those cases. It is my view that it was never the intention of the government to have this criminal regime apply to children, because I cannot in good conscience imagine that the minister, who is a man of great capacity, could possibly believe that it would in any circumstance be productive or just to apply a penalty of up to $107,000 to a child. So I would ask the minister again: is he comfortable with the possibility created by this legislation of applying such a penalty to children in the face of overwhelming evidence given in many forums, including by commissioners of this government, that such approaches are simply not effective, nor just, in relation to children?