Senator Lidia Thorpe has urged Minister Malarndirri McCarthy to follow through on her commitment to impose sanctions on states and territories that undermine Closing the Gap targets, saying Victoria "must be put on notice" over the Allan government's decision to introduce harsher custodial sentences for children.

The state's 'Adult Time for Violent Crime' bill has sparked a wave of opposition from legal and human rights experts.

The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service has warned these reforms will have devastating impacts on young people, pointing to recent bail changes in Victoria that have seen a 46 per cent bail refusal rate for Aboriginal people, compared to a six per cent rate for non-Indigenous people, and a 233 per cent increase of bail being refused for Aboriginal young people.

VALS has noted the move will breach the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child - for which the federal government is responsible.

Senator Thorpe, who represents Victoria in the senate as an independent, said Premier Jacinta Allan "wants to lock up 14-year-olds for life and pretend that's leadership".

"It's unfathomably cruel and the most shameful attempt to cling to power," she said.

"This isn't about safety, it's about the looming state election, appeasing white Herald-Sun-reading swing voters, and keeping Labor in power by hurting Black and brown children."

The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung senator said the Premier was taking her lead from the notorious youth justice regimes in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

"While people in this country look with horror at the abuse happening to children in Queensland and the NT, Jacinta Allan sees a political lifeline. Allan is willing to destroy children's lives to stay in power," she said.

"The Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians has said she will crack down on states and territories undermining their Closing the Gap commitments. She must make good on that promise and pull the Premier into line immediately. The federal minister should be picking up the phone today to tell Premier Allan that Victoria will face consequences for this."

Jurisdictions breaching Closing the Gap targets must face consequences

Senator Thorpe said there is an urgent need for penalties for Victoria and other states intentionally breaching Closing the Gap targets, and for National Cabinet action on youth incarceration and deaths in custody.

"Children's rights are protected under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This move breaches those rights. We know the federal government has the power to set standards on states and territories to keep them in line, but is choosing not to," she said.

"Every child Labor locks up is a child the government has already failed; in housing, mental health, disability support, education and care.

"Victoria's child prisons are already overwhelmed. Sending children to adult courts denies them their right to see magistrates trained in child development, and recent bail changes have already seen more than a 200 per cent increase in Aboriginal children refused bail.

"Prison makes children more traumatised, more disconnected, and more likely to reoffend. It is harmful and does not make anyone's communities safer."

Senator Thorpe said the federal government must act now.

"We need national leadership, national standards, and a national commitment to keeping our children safe. And if we continue to see inaction and abuse, I'll be taking this to the UN," she said.

"Grotesque mimicry" of the Queensland LNP

The National Network of Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls said Victoria's proposed changes were "a grotesque display of political mimicry... straight out of the Queensland LNP playbook".

National Network co-spokesperson and First Nations justice advocate Tabitha Lean said the Network condemned the Victorian government's "cowardly betrayal", and said the focus of the Raise the Age campaign had left 14 year-olds vulnerable to criminalisation.

"For those of us who have survived the cages, it is enraging but not surprising. This is what happens when compromise replaces courage, and when policy is written without the voices of the criminalised at the table," she said.

The proposed laws introduce adult sentences for serious violent offending by children 14 years of age and over. The changes could see children as young as 14 sentenced to life, with adult sentences proposed to apply to a range of offences tried in the County Court.

The legislation will require amendments to the Crimes Act, the Children, Youth and Families Act, and the Youth Justice Act.

"We want the courts to treat these violent children like adults, so jail is more likely and sentences are longer," Premier Allan said.

"Adult time for violent crime will mean more violent youth offenders going to jail, facing serious consequences."

National Network co-spokesperson Debbie Kilroy said Queensland's 'adult crime, adult time' laws "are already devastating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and now Victoria seeks to follow".

"The National Network remind the government that community safety will never be built on the bodies of our children. Safety comes from housing, healing, care, connection, and justice - not incarceration," she said.

Call for genuine reform

The Commission for Children and Young People said the plan "will fail to stem the significant impact of crime on the Victorian community".

"We need to acknowledge the impact of offending, but we also need a balanced approach; we can't just lock children and young people away and hope for a safer community," said Argiri Alisandratos, Acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People.

"If we are serious about addressing the deep and lasting impact of crime on victims and communities, we must pursue solutions that work, that are based on evidence, and that enhance our chances of achieving community safety.

"We know from an overwhelming body of evidence that diversion, early intervention, prevention and rehabilitation that addresses the root causes of behaviour offer the best chance of reducing future offending. We also know that simply incarcerating children without the required supports will only entrench children and young people in the justice system and make re-offending more likely."

Jesuit Social Services also condemned the proposed legal changes. Chief executive Julie Edwards said Victoria needs "genuine reform to reduce harm and keep the community safe instead of short-term, politically-driven responses".

"Instead, we have seen reforms to bail and sentencing and investment at the wrong end of the system with $727 million committed in the 2025 Victorian budget to prison expansion," she said.

"Where is the similar investment in prevention, early intervention, restorative justice programs, and services for children to recover from past experiences of trauma and violence?"