A wall at Darwin’s Don Dale youth detention centre. Greens MP Michael Berkman warned that a compromise proposal could delay further reform in raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14.Credit:Glenn Campbell
It recommended that Parliament did not pass Greens Maiwar MP Michael Berkman’s private members bill,commenting that “there is more work to be done” before such a move was made.
This included national efforts among Australian attorneys-general to increase the age young people can be held responsible for criminal actions from 10 to 12,as called for byformer Queensland police commissioner Bob Atkinson in his landmark 2018 youth justice system report.
In a dissenting report to the one provided by the three Labor and two LNP members of the committee,Mr Berkman welcomed some recommendations around training in residential aged care and court settings,but said these were “severely undermined” by the unwillingness to raise the age to 14.
“Locking up children doesn’t stop offending behaviour. It damages young people and makes everyone less safe,” he said in a statement following the report’s release,warning that the compromise age of 12 worked towards ina long-running effort of state attorneys-general could delay further reform.
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“Ultimately,the clearest pathway to improving community safety is keeping children away from the criminal legal system,creating alternatives to criminal justice responses and addressing the disadvantage these children face.”
The committee also recommended the government evaluate whether training given to residential care workers in diversionary and de-escalation techniques was sufficient.