Territory youth meet with Children’s Commissioner on justice reform

Young people have described how social media crime pages encourage them to ‘act up’ to get ‘famous’, as they met with the National Children’s Commissioner on youth justice reform.

Young people say negative stereotypes, social media fame and limited employment options are encouraging kids to “act up” in towns like Alice Springs.

Youths from the NPY lands, which span the central desert region of the NT, South Australia and Western Australia, met with national Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds to discuss what gets kids “in trouble”.

According to a statement by the NPY Women’s Council, the teens described feeling as though they were looked at as criminals before they had done anything wrong, particularly in Alice Springs.

They said pages such as Action for Alice had “only encouraged young people to act up because they want to get famous”, with social media reinforcing negative stereotypes that young people then try to live up to.

Other factors included home life, where some young people said “getting away and hanging out in the street” was a solution to “bad situations” at home, including limited money for food or parental drinking.

They also described the difficulty in choosing between pursuing job opportunities, entertainment and education in Alice Springs and staying in remote communities where there were limited options but a greater connection to language and culture.

Young people described how meaningful and purposeful engagement with family and culture helped keep kids on the straight and narrow.

I am just back from Central Australia. I spoke with many First Nations young people about what helps kids stay out of trouble with police, as part of our Youth Justice & Child Wellbeing reform project. These stories are being repeated all over Australia.#auspol https://t.co/kRNvrEQiIc

— Anne Hollonds (@AnneHollonds) July 23, 2023

“Getting to keep language and culture and learn at school — having both — makes people happy,” one young person said.

Ms Hollonds undertook the trip as part of the Youth Justice and Child Wellbeing Reform Across Australia project, which is exploring ways to reduce children’s involvement in crime.

Her findings are expected to be handed down to Commonwealth Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus next year.