Australia's National Children's Commissioner and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner are backing calls from child health and legal experts for the Northern Territory Government to reconsider its proposed changes to the Territory's Youth Justice Act.
The NT Government has flagged a raft of changes including removing detention as a last resort for children, reintroducing the previously banned use of spit hoods, increasing the scope of 'reasonable force' for Youth Justice Officers and expanding the list of serious offences that are ineligible for youth diversion programs.
The changes to the Act are scheduled to be considered by the NT parliament this week.
National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds: "We all want our communities to be safe places where children can thrive, and I'm sure we can all agree that responses to these complex social issues should be based on evidence and expert advice.
"The NT Government's proposed actions fly in the face of the evidence we have of what will make communities safer.
"I understand that the NT Children's Commissioner has not been consulted, despite numerous attempts by her to provide constructive counsel on these proposed legislative changes that will have a significant impact on children and their families in the territory.
"We know that making the justice system more punitive does not work to prevent crime by children. What the evidence shows is that when children are locked up and brutalised by the justice system, they are more likely to go on to commit more serious and violent crimes. This does nothing to make our communities safer.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss: "Children's exposure to the justice system is a symptom of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma that compounds complex unmet needs and underlying issues such as poverty, homelessness, disability, health and mental health issues and domestic, family and sexual violence.
"We should not be further damaging young people and any hope they may have for a better future by introducing harsher measures that don't actually make communities safer.
"What we need our governments - including the Northern Territory government - to be providing culturally appropriate support for vulnerable children and their families that's delivered in a coordinated way by suitably trained professionals."
National Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds: "Last year, my team produced a comprehensive report titled Help Way Earlier! which shows how an evidence and human-rights-based approach to child justice reform will help reduce child offending.
"The Help Way Earlier! report draws on decades of Australian and international evidence about what actually works to reduce crime by children, and provides the foundations of a blueprint for reform.
"Commissioner Kiss and I urge the NT Government to listen to the experts such as their own NT Children's Commissioner and act on the evidence about what works to address the unmet needs for child safety and wellbeing, to prevent crime and to make communities safer."
