Ten is far too young Federal Labor considering age of criminal responsibility

Federal Labor will consider what age children should be jailed in a move that will put pressure on state and territory leaders, after a senior frontbencher said the current age of 10 was far too low and needed to be higher

Children as young as 10 can be held criminally responsible for their actions and imprisoned in Australia, well below the United Nations recommended age of 14.

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said 10-year-olds were too young for prison.Credit:Louie Douvis.

“The position of federal Labor is that we believe that 10 is too young,” Linda Burney, the shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, told ABC Radio National.

“We will have discussions as to what we think the appropriate age would be but 10 is far too young.”

Talks between Attorneys-General about raising the age have stalled over the past year as state and territory jurisdictions struggle to reach an agreement for a national approach.

While the Opposition’s official policy is to encourage the states and territories to decide, Ms Burney’s language appears to indicate an increase in pressure on the Labor states from a federal party level.

Her language puts her at odds with the Queensland Labor government, which has so far refused to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

The Northern Territory Labor government promised to raise the age to 12 in 2018 after it was recommended by a scathing royal commission into its youth justice system but has failed to enact any changes to date.

But the ACT Labor/Greens government broke ranks with the other jurisdictions to announce it would raise the age to 14.

The federal government has repeatedly stated that it is a decision for each individual jurisdiction and hasn’t expressed any opinion on whether the age should be raised, but Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has previously said he is uncomfortable that children aged 10 can be jailed.

“The issue really is leadership from the federal Attorney-General to bring states and territories around the table to seriously look at this issue and unfortunately that has not happened so far,” Ms Burney said.

Indigenous children are jailed at disproportionally higher rates than the general population.

53 per cent of those children aged between 10-17 on any given day in 2019-20 were Indigenous despite making up only 6 per cent of the overall population cohort.

The stark difference in statistics has seen legal, human rights, and Indigenous groups lobby the federal government for action, particularly after 31 United Nations states called on Australia to raise the age during a Human Rights Council forum earlier this year.

The federal government noted the demands but did not support or reject them.

Cameron Gooley is a Gamilaroi man and the Indigenous affairs reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald.

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