JUVENILE INCARCERATION AND THE AGE OF CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY (23 Nov 22)
6PR Interview with Kate Chaney MP
Let's go to Parliament House in Canberra because the independent member for Curtin, Kate Chaney, has used question time to ask the Attorney General if the Government is going to release a Council of Attorneys General report into lifting the criminal age of responsibility nationwide to 14.
Kate Chaney joins me live on 6PR this afternoon. Kate, thank you for your time.
My pleasure, Oliver.
What was sparking your interest in asking that question to the Attorney General today?
I've had inquiries from my electorate and people who are really concerned about the way we're treating kids in prisons and I think that it's not just in WA. There are issues in detention centres all over the country and I know it's been the subject of discussion between the Attorney General in the past.
This report has been in the Government's back pocket, dare I say now for some time, Kate, but it's more complicated than just saying it is all the current Government's understanding.
That's right. The Council of Attorneys General is all the state and territory and the Commonwealth Attorney General who met and they did this report which was actually when the WA Attorney General was chairing that meeting. It's not as easy as the Federal Attorney General releasing that report, but he said that he would put it on the agenda and discuss whether it could be released. We hear that it actually shows that a majority of the Attorney General were in favour of increasing the age of criminal responsibility to 14.
So why can't they release this report publicly?
Well, ultimately it's up to the WA Attorney General who at the time was the chair of that meeting. I think they should release it. If there is some consensus or a majority view, then I think it would be good for us to know about that.
So who has ultimately written the report, Kate? Was it the former Government or when it was under the watch of the former Attorney General in the Liberal National Government along with the other Attorney General?
So it was a working group of the previous iteration of the Council of Attorneys General that was looking specifically at this issue. I don't know because I haven't seen it, but I assume that it was actually written by certainly the chair at the time which was the West Australian Attorney General had carriage of it and had responsibility for it, I believe, but this is without having actually seen it.
So Mark Dreyfus, what does he do now?
Take it to the next Attorney General meeting and they make a decision on whether or not they will release it publicly? That's right. That's what he indicated today during question time.
Do you support increasing the age of criminality?
I do. I think that as a society we have failed these young people and I understand that some of them have done some terrible things, but a large proportion of these young people have developmental delays and neurodevelopmental issues. I just think we need to be approaching them with a much more trauma-informed approach rather than really treating them like monsters. And I've got kids at age and I know that if I locked up my kids for extended periods in those sorts of conditions, they wouldn't come out very stable either.
Is 14 the age you think it should be set at?
I do think that that's the age it's set at. It sounds like there's that 12 might be something that is being considered. It's better than nothing, but I think 14 is probably a more humane approach.
And should it be standard across the country?
It would be good. I mean, the way our criminal codes are state by state. So the federal government can't dictate that it's the same across the country, but that's certainly something that the Attorney's General could talk about and could decide to harmonise between different jurisdictions. At the moment as well, there's obviously a lot of focus on what is happening here in Western Australia with some youths who are in detention or have been moved to adult prisons.
Do you think that that is something that should be addressed by the Western Australian government, Kate?
I would like to say that. I understand that it's a difficult situation. And I think that because the majority of young people who are in detention are Indigenous, I think we really need to be led on Indigenous voices on what those different models of care look like and how we can actually provide a more rehabilitative detention experience, or, you know, rather than or justice experience rather than it being focused on being punitive.
Kate Chaney, one other from left of field. We just had the founder of Combs declare on the program before her name's Belinda Noble, a climate activist group who's launched a campaign calling on Chevron to be dumped as the sponsor of the National Australia Day Council. Would you agree with her?
Oh, look, that's really between the National Australia Day Council and its stakeholders. I think that its sponsorships are a really difficult issue and opinions change over time, but every organisation that needs funding needs to talk to all its stakeholders and work out, you know, what are the things that are values aligned and what they're prepared to partner with.
One point she made is we needed a tobacco-style ban on all fossil fuel sponsorships to disentangle our public institutions from this polluting influence. Do you think that's where the world's headed, that we'll see fossil fuel sponsorships in a similar light to that of tobacco?
I'd be pretty concerned about seeing a blanket ban because I think we, especially in Western Australia, a lot of organisations are highly dependent on sponsorships from, you know, the big companies in WA. So I think we're a fair way from that sort of situation.
Appreciate your time, Kate. Thank you very much.
Okay, thanks, Oliver.