‘Too young’: Linda Burney will work with states, territories to raise age of criminality

There‘s long been calls to alter the age a child can be charged. Now the new Indigenous Affairs Minister has weighed in. WARNING: Distressing

Australia’s Indigenous Affairs Minister says she is committed to getting the age of criminal responsibility raised across the country.

Her call to action comes as the Don Dale youth detention centre in the Northern Territory was the site of four self harm incidents in the space of a weekend – including one suicide attempt.

It prompted renewed calls for the Northern Territory and all Australian states to follow the lead of the ACT to raise the age of criminality from 10 to 14.

Last week, the Tasmanian government committed to raising the age of detention from 10 to 14 – becoming the first state to do so – but has not committed to changing the age of criminal responsibility.

And, while the NT Attorney-General last week confirmed he would “make sure” the age would be raised during this term of government, many are concerned the age will only be raised to 12, rather than 14, as recommended by the United Nations and medical and legal experts.

While the age of criminal responsibility is ultimately a matter for individual states and territories, Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney says she will make sure it is high on their agenda.

“Ten is too young and we’ll be working with the states and territories to address it,” she told NCA NewsWire.

There’s been multiple self-harm incidents inside Don Dale in the past week. Photo: Amanda Parkinson

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus echoed Ms Burney’s sentiment, saying it was an issue he would be raising at a future Meeting of Attorneys-General.

“Criminal law is primarily a matter for the states, although Labor believes the Commonwealth can take a leadership role to achieve reform,” a spokesperson for Mr Dreyfus told NCA NewsWire.

“It’s a sad fact that a significant number of children in detention are Indigenous children, and there is a need to invest in programs to tackle the unacceptably high rate of incarceration of Indigenous Australians.”

Any attempt the federal government makes to bring states in line with the United Nations’ guideline for the age of criminality will be supported by the Greens, with senator Lidia Thorpe saying she felt more hopeful working with Labor than she ever did with the coalition.

“I’m hopeful that we’re going to get a lot done,” she told NCA NewsWire.

“Absolutely (I’ll be pushing) to raise the age to the international standard of 14 … but the other thing I’ll be talking to (Ms Burney) about and pushing is the Bringing Them Home Report.

“A lot of our kids are still part of the same cycle of intergenerational trauma. I believe that implementing those recommendations will also help those kids in these torturous prison systems.”

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney says she will be work with states and territories to address raising the age of criminal responsibility. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

RISING RATES OF HARM

The latest push to raise the age comes after four children were taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital in the space of three days from Don Dale due to “intensely distressing” conditions.

One child was a 16-year-old boy who is believed to have stabbed himself in a suicide attempt.

The decommissioned adult prison turned youth detention centre on Darwin’s outskirts was ordered to be closed by February 2018 following the damning Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory, but has continued to operate.

At least 95 per cent of the youths at the centre are Indigenous.

The territory’s youth incarceration rates are up 200 per cent from two years ago, with activists saying the situation has been exacerbated by the “punitive” change to bail laws, as well as the age of criminality still at 10.

There are also reports of staffing issues – claims denied by the government – leading to allegations children are being left isolated in their cells for up to 23 hours a day.

It’s “little wonder” activists say the facility has, as a result, witnessed a 150 per cent spike in self-harm incidents, with many concerned it’s “only a matter of time” before there is a death.

The 16-year-old boy is understood to have been left alone in a cell on Friday before he harmed himself. He was taken to hospital, but after being discharged was returned to Don Dale and placed back in isolation.

He was returned to hospital on Sunday.

A NT Families spokesperson said the teenager was now back at Don Dale receiving support.

A ‘CLEAR CALL TO ACTION’

Over the second half of 2021, Don Dale reported 54 episodes of self-harm or suicide compared with just eight in the same period in 2020 – mirroring a skyrocketing number of children remanded or sentenced to the facility.

Change the Record chief executive Sophie Trevitt said in the wake of the weekend’s incidents, there was no “clearer call to action”.

“Multiple children under the care of the government are trying to harm themselves because they are suffering to such a great extent in a government institution,” she told NCA NewsWire.

“This is not an anomaly, it’s a regular occurrence that children will self-harm or attempt to kill themselves because of the intense distress that they are experiencing in these environments.

“Don Dale has been in a state of crisis since I worked as a youth justice lawyer in the NT during the royal commission … which was clear that the building is not fit-for-purpose.”

Activists are calling on Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney to change the age of criminality. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Ms Trevitt said the new federal Labor government had a role to play in pushing state and territory governments to raise the age of criminality from 10 to 14.

“The new Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney has (now) said on the record that criminalising children as young as 10 is far too young,” Ms Trevitt said.

“What we haven’t seen though is the Labor government take that a step further and say ‘we are urging our state and territory governments to … raise the age’.”

Ms Trevitt said it would not be enough for states and territories to raise the age to 12, saying 14 was medically and psychologically proven to be the absolute youngest age a child should be subjected to the criminal legal system.

Calls for Don Dale’s closure continue. Picture: (A) manda Parkinson

A BETTER WAY FORWARD

Over the past two years, there has been a 200 per cent increase in the number of children entering detention in the NT, a direct correlation to the government’s new bail laws.

The laws allow less serious bail breaches – such as failure to charge an electronic monitoring device – to be treated as serious, resulting in children being sent back to detention.

There were 64 children in Territory prisons in the final six months of 2020. That figure jumped to 199 at the end of 2021.

As of Thursday, the NT government said there were 35 young people at Don Dale.

Amnesty International’s Australian Indigenous rights campaigner, Maggie Munn, said Don Dale was “dangerous” and kids “don’t belong in prison at all”.

“When are we going to accept that locking kids up doesn’t work?” they said.

“It doesn’t reduce crime and it ruins children’s lives. There are better solutions that actually work, the NT Police’s own data shows this.

“Instead of kids being harmed in Don Dale, they need to be sent to programs that help them re-engage with school or employment, address underlying trauma and health issues and set them up to live a healthy, happy life.”

Territory Families Minister Kate Worden said the government was continuing to make “significant investment” in youth justice programs but did not respond to specific questions about when Don Dale would close.

“We have reformed our youth detention system and it is not what it was in 2016,” Ms Worden said.

“We are building a new purpose-built facility in Darwin and refurbishing our Alice Springs facility. We have made sure that the new facility will strike a balance between ensuring it is secure, safe, robust and durable while meeting the therapeutic and rehabilitative needs of young people sentenced to detention or on remand.”

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Compared to people with other health conditions presenting at an ED, people with mental illness are: 

• nearly twice as likely to arrive by ambulance
• 10 times more likely to arrive by police or correctional services vehicles
• twice as likely to be in ED for more than 8 hours
• over represented among those kept waiting in ED for an inpatient bed
• even more over represented among those delayed in leaving ED due to an inpatient bed not being available. 

Originally published as ‘Too young’: Linda Burney will work with states, territories to raise age of criminality