Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has grilled the federal government on their responsibility to uphold international human rights law in relation to youth justice.
Speaking at Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee on Friday, the Gunnai Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator raised the rights of children with the Attorney General's department.
"This is about protecting children - I don't know if anyone is interested here," she said, sparking a clash with the committee's chair.
The senator noted that representatives of the Attorney General's department had recently met with Children's Commissioner Anne Hollonds after the release of her 'Help way earlier' report, and asked if the AG, Mark Dreyfus, had attended that meeting after "numerous requests" from the Commissioner.
The department representative,deputy secretary of Justice and Communities, Tamsin Harvey, took the question on notice, having been unable to answer.
Senator Thorpe raised the inquest into the death in custody of 16-year-old Yamatji boy Cleveland Dodd in October 2023.
"He was killed by the state after being criminalised, locked up, denied healthcare, and subjected to prolonged periods of solitary confinement, more than 16 hours a day, every day," she said.
"During the inquest, Corrections Commissioner Brad Royce said he did not feel bound by international human rights standards. What engagement has the Department had with the Commissioner, or with WA's racist government, regarding this disregard for human rights standards?"
Ms Harvey also took this question on notice, having noted earlier that not all sections of the AG's Department were represented at the hearing.
Senator Thorpe noted that the federal government's obligations under international instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child mean "you can't torture our children, but it continues to happen in this country".
She asked whether, given the Convention is an international Treaty, could "the Department please confirm it would be constitutionally possible to use the External Affairs power to legislate a national framework for protecting the rights of children?"
Ms Harvey said the question "would fall into the category of legal advice, and we are not in a position to provide legal advice to the Committee".
Senator Thorpe threw her next question to any of the department representatives present.
"Can I ask... what your plan is to stop ten year-old children being put into spithoods and tortured? Is there any plan to stop that?... tell our mob out there who are listening."
Ms Harvey, as Justice and Communities representative, told the Senator "we have responsibility for work around the Close the Gap outcomes 10 and 11, which of course go to over-incarceration of (Indigenous) young people and adults, and that is work we are progressing through a range of fora".
"In terms of spithoods, that is on the agenda of the Standing Council of Attorneys General, and I am happy to take that question on notice - it falls with a different group within the (federal) Attorney General's department."
