Members of the Australian National Preventive Mechanism have urged sweeping reforms to Australia's youth justice system, including raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14, in its submission to a national inquiry.
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee's Inquiry into Australia's youth justice and incarceration system was set up after the Greens moved in the Senate to shine a light on youth justice.
The submission reiterates the Australian National Preventive Mechanism's previous concerns with youth detention in Australia, including: detaining children in adult facilities; the isolation of children in detention; the significant number of children held on remand in detention; and the detention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Commonwealth Ombudsman and Coordinator of the Australian NPM, Iain Anderson, said the Mechanism's team has observed that "various factors have come together to compound risks of ill treatment in youth detention, which ultimately also exacerbate issues in the wider community".
"Failures in youth detention and the broader youth justice system create profoundly poor outcomes for children and young people themselves, but also mean community safety is worse rather than better," he said.
The submission made several recommendations for the Committee, including that all Australian jurisdictions raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years, without exceptions, as well as implement adequately supported diversionary and preventive alternatives to detention.
Under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT), the Australian NPM has a mandate to regularly visit places of detention and make recommendations towards preventing torture and ill treatment in detention.
The Australian NPM is made up of separate monitoring bodies across Australia. However, it noted on Tuesday that Australian governments are yet to properly implement OPCAT: the Australian NPM is incomplete, and not yet adequately resourced to meet its full oversight mandate.
The submission is available via the Commonwealth Ombudsman website.
A spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Department told National Indigenous Times "both the Commonwealth and the states and territories have responsibility for operating places of detention within their jurisdictions, and all levels of government are responsible for complying with international law.·
"Australia has nominated six out of nine National Preventive Mechanisms (NPM) required to fulfil its OPCAT obligations," they said
"The (federal) government is continuing to work with New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland on the nomination of their respective NPMs as soon as possible. The government made a one-off funding offer to all states and territories to support their NPM implementation.
"Each offer was proportionate to the number of primary places of detention and approximate cost for travel to places of detention outside of capital cities. The offers were accepted by the Australian Capital Territory ($143 000) and Tasmania ($155 000).
"At the Commonwealth level, the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman has been designated the NPM coordinator. The Ombudsman Regulations 2017 (Cth) enable the Commonwealth NPM to visit all places of detention under the control of the Commonwealth to support OPCAT implementation at the Commonwealth level.
"The Government continues to work closely with the OCO to ensure it is appropriately resourced. The OCO receives ongoing funding of approximately $300,000 per year to carry out functions as the Commonwealth NPM and NPM coordinator."
