Help Way Earlier! The 24 recommendations from the Australian Children’s Commissioner
Nov 2024
Written by Eliana Sinicropi
In August 2024, the Australian Children’s Commissioner released the report ‘Help Way Earlier!’ How Australia can transform child justice to improve the safety and wellbeing of children. The report investigates gaps in, and opportunities for, reform of child justice systems across Australia. It brings together data, the voices of children, young people, families and stakeholders collected by the National Children’s Commissioner in 2023-24.
According to the report, the treatment of children and young people in the criminal justice system constitutes “one of the most urgent human rights issues facing Australia today” (p.8). It clarifies that previous reactions to inquiries and calls for reform have been “piecemeal, uncoordinated and inadequate” (p.9).
Children and young people involved with the criminal justice system often experience one or more social determinants of justice such as “poverty, family, domestic and sexual violence, child abuse and neglect, out-of-home care, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, neurodevelopmental disabilities and learning problems. First Nations children also struggle with intergenerational disadvantage and trauma, a product of colonisation and dispossession of lands” (p.14).
Service systems which may act as early intervention points, circumventing contact with the criminal justice system, are failing children and young people. These include health, education, social services and child protection systems. It is vital that systems prevent ‘at risk’ children from being considered ‘a risk’ by the criminal justice system.
The evidence is overwhelming. Social determinants are indicative of future offending. This remains true for Australia. Surveyed stakeholders and data from across Australia indicate that “children who become involved with the child justice system are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable” (p.18). Yet Australian policy responses to child offending have been punitive, focused on the criminal justice system, not preventative.
The report includes information collected from 150 children and young people, of which 27% were currently in detention. In Australia, children as young as ten years old can be held in detention (p.10). In 2022–2023, “total recurrent expenditure on detention-based supervision, community-based supervision and group conferencing was $1.3 billion nationally,” with the majority of expenses allocated towards detention-based supervision ($855.3 million). The cost to taxpayers is steep. Detention-based supervision costs taxpayers $2,827.47 per day, while the average cost per day per young person subject to community-based supervision was $305.8 (p.14).
First Nations children are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, especially in detention. Of the children and young people who provided their insight to this project, 67% were First Nations children, and over half were from regional or remote locations (p.10).
Recommendations
The report puts forth 24 recommendations, listed below.
Priorities to enable national reform
- Australian Governments establish a National Taskforce for reform of child justice systems. This Taskforce should report to Ministers responsible for child justice and child wellbeing across jurisdictions.
- The Australian Government appoints a Cabinet Minister for Children, with responsibility for the human rights and wellbeing of children in Australia.
- The Australian Government establishes a Ministerial Council for Child Wellbeing, chaired by the Minister for Children, and reporting to the National Cabinet.
- The Australian Government incorporates the Convention on the Rights of the Child into Australian law through a National Children’s Act as well as a federal Human Rights Act.
Key evidence-based actions for reform of child justice systems
- Australian Governments provide integrated, place-based health, education and social services for both children and their families.
- The Australian Government increases the level of income support payments for children, young people and families.
- Australian Governments urgently prioritise access to safe and affordable housing for children and families, including those in the child protection and justice systems.
- Australian Governments prioritise access to comprehensive and culturally safe healthcare, including for children with multiple and intersecting needs.
- Australian Governments resource schools to be community hubs integrated with health services and providing flexible learning options.
- Australian Governments prioritise investments in prevention and early intervention through Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
- Australian Governments improve availability of free and accessible community sport, music, other social activities, and cultural programs, addressing barriers such as lack of public transport.
- Australian Governments resource and expand the availability of evidence-based diversionary programs for children, including those by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations, and other culturally safe programs.
- Australian Governments invest in restorative justice conferencing to be available across Australia, ensuring culturally appropriate approaches for First Nations children and communities.
- Australian Governments resource the redesign of services to be place-based and informed by evidence and local community priorities, in line with Priority Reform 1 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
- Australian Governments develop nationally consistent minimum training requirements for workforces in the child justice and related systems, including child protection and police. Training should include child rights, child development, mental health, neurodevelopmental disabilities, cultural competence, and trauma-informed practice.
- Australian Governments ensure that all child justice matters are heard in specialised Children’s Courts or by child-specialist magistrates.
- Australian Governments collect key data on children in the child justice system, disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographic location, ethnic origin, and socioeconomic background, including data disaggregated at the local level to support service design and delivery. This data should be publicly available and accessible.
- The Australian Government withdraws its reservation to Article 37(c) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- Australian Governments legislate to prohibit solitary confinement practices in child detention facilities, and prohibit the use of isolation as punishment in any circumstance.
- Australian Governments raise the age of criminal responsibility in all jurisdictions to 14 years and undertake a review of the application of the presumption of doli incapax.
- Australian Governments agree to implement nationally consistent standards for monitoring detention facilities for children.
- Australian Governments fully implement the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Publishment, including by designating National Preventive Mechanisms that have child rights expertise in all jurisdictions.
- Australian Governments conduct Child Rights Impact Assessments on laws and policies that affect children.
- The Australian Government ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure, that will allow children to make complaints to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child about breaches of their rights
Since the release of the report, the Senate referred Australia’s youth justice and incarceration system to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, for inquiry. Submissions are now open and will close on 10 October 2024. We look forward to the outcomes of the Senate Inquiry, for evidence-based reforms that uphold the rights of children and young people in contact with the justice system. You can read our submitted response to the Senate Inquiry here.
