The first Indigenous female leader of a political party in Australia has described the likely passing of legislation which will lower the Northern Territory's age of criminal responsibility to 10 as a "dark day".
Speaking on the likely passing of the legislation in NT Parliament on Thursday, new Labor leader Selena Uibo said the move would only further criminalise children, without any benefits for the community.
Ms Uibo said it was "fundamental belief" of Labor that this was a retrograde step, arguing instead of teaching 10- and 11-year-olds consequences - as has been promoted by the new Country Liberal Party (CLP) government - it will only push vulnerable children into a life of reoffending and recidivism.
"We believe it is a dark day for [the] Northern Territory to be going steps backwards in time," the Nunggubuyu and Wanindilyakwa woman said.
"To think that the government of the NT believes the best way to support a 10- or 11-year-old who gets themselves in trouble [is locking them] up in a cell."
Labor raised the age of criminal responsibility to 12 while it was in power but has been attacked by the CLP for creating a "youth crime wave".
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has rejected calls from medical, Indigenous, legal and human rights experts that her decision will in fact make the community less safe.
"To people who want to be political commentators or throw stones at our government on issues we took to the election and promised Territorians we would deliver—which we now are—I say, be part of the solution not part of the problem," she said on Wednesday.
Ms Uibo said vulnerable children already faced a raft of mental and physiological issues and would "unlikely receive the full range of wraparound and therapeutic treatment they need to overcome any traumas or disadvantages they have experienced in their early lives" in youth detention centres.
A new report last week from the Northern Territory Child Commissioner found every child under 14 in youth custody in the NT had an interaction with Child Protection—94 per cent had been exposed to domestic and/or family violence.
The Labor leader also highlighted the CLP's apparent hypocrisy, noting the 2017 Royal Commission which called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 12 was called for by Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, and Country Liberal NT Chief Minister Adam Giles.
"They picked the terms of reference and picked the commissioners, but when it came to accept the recommendations, such as this one, backed up by frontline experts, it was a step too far," Ms Uibo said.
On Thursday, new Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby went one step further, and said the NT was sick of being told what to do by "do-gooders down south" and rather than criticise the CLPs policy, "work with us to make parents accountable for their children".
A significant proportion of submissions to the youth justice inquiry - including many groups from the NT - have called for the age to be raised to 14 immediately.
Ms Boothby said raising of the age to 12 had no measurable impact on youth crime, and instead only made children more brazen.
"We're going back to what the rest of the country are doing," Ms Boothby said.
Currently both the ACT and Victorian have the age of criminal responsibility set at 12, with the ACT to move to 14 in 2025.
