The Australian Greens have welcomed the report of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee's inquiry into Australia's youth justice and incarceration system. The recommendation for national minimum standards is a landmark step forward, one that experts and the sector have long called for.
The forward step forward here is a cross-party recognition that the Commonwealth can no longer be a bystander while States and Territories engage in a cruelty competition on youth justice. This report says the Commonwealth must take responsibility for setting national minimum standards and directing the country away from jailing first, to fixing first.
I acknowledge the witnesses who came forward to give evidence, including those with lived experience of youth detention. This report stands as a testament to the evidence and the bravery of the people who spoke to this inquiry.
As stated by Greens Justice Spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge:
"National minimum standards, alongside a National Child and Community Safety Taskforce, would deliver real protections for children.
"This is the first time we have had cross party recognition that the Federal Government has a critical role in youth justice to help deliver real safety gains for the whole community. This is the turning point the sector has been demanding for years.
"The data this committee obtained tells a very different story to the one dominating headlines. Youth offending has fallen in every state and territory over the past two decades. The number of children proceeded against by police kept falling again last year. Politicians who want to keep communities safe should be following the evidence, not the panic.
"Former National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollands told the committee about conditions she witnessed that she could not unsee. That included children in psychological distress being restrained in watch houses. Evidence like that should shame every government in this country into action.
"The additional comments I have presented with Liberal Senator Senator Andrew McLachlan set out a practical roadmap for how to respond to the evidence the committee heard.
"Our additional comments call for raising the age of criminal responsibility to fourteen backed up by properly funded, community-controlled diversion programs. We also call for Commonwealth funding to be tied to genuine reform.
"Children caught up in this system are overwhelmingly poor, First Nations, and living with disability or trauma. The state has proven itself a terrible substitute for a parent. Continuing to fund a system that punishes children for the disadvantage they were born into is a failure of policy.
"The Commonwealth cannot keep funding failure and abuse in the name of state and territory autonomy.
"This report, and the evidence received by the Parliament, shows the way forward, and it starts with a simple principle of 'Help way earlier." Let's get started on that."
