Page 2055 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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straightforward legislative matter. Outside this place it has been called, somewhat over-simplistically, a stroke-of-the-pen change. However, it is a complex change at a systems level—it requires multifaceted considerations to ensure that our services will succeed in their endeavours to support children at risk of or who are already in contact with the justice system.
Changing the minimum age of criminal responsibility requires careful analysis to detect any gaps in current services and programs to ensure that young people who have complex needs are best supported and are diverted from the justice system. It is important when dealing with matters of this complexity that the Assembly specifically acknowledges the fullness of the situation and the ongoing foundational work which is required. ACT Labor does not believe the motion does this sufficiently, and so, accordingly, I move:
Omit all words after “That”, substitute:
“this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
(a) the minimum age of criminal responsibility across all Australian jurisdictions is 10 years, with the principle of doli incapax applying to children between 10 and 14 years;
(b) the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has recommended the age of criminal responsibility should be 14;
(c) in Australia, groups including, but not limited to, Amnesty International, the ACT Human Rights Commission, ACTCOSS, the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services, Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation, Anglicare NSW South/ACT, the Law Society, the Youth Coalition of the ACT, Law Council of Australia and the Australian Medical Association have called on the ACT Government to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to either 12 or 14 years of age to further protect vulnerable children in our community; and
(d) on 27 July 2020, the Council of Attorneys-General noted that the Working Group on the minimum age of criminal responsibility had identified the need for further work to occur regarding the need for adequate processes and services for children who exhibit offending behaviour in advance of making a recommendation to the Council raising the age and agreed to provide a progress report within 12 months;
(e) the Council of Attorneys-General Working Group on the minimum age of criminal responsibility has considered:
(i) representations about medical evidence on cognitive capacity; and
(ii) options to shift the age with different presumptions for more serious criminal offences; and
(f) there is desirability of national consensus on the minimum age of criminal responsibility but that this does not prevent a jurisdiction from making an independent decision to raise the age;
(2) further notes that:
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