Victoria will raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12, with a view to raising it to 14 within four years, after state cabinet approved the plan on Monday afternoon.

On Tuesday morning The Age reported that the plan had been agreed upon.

Under the current laws, children as young as 10 can be arrested, charged with a crime, held on remand and jailed in juvenile detention.

A long-running campaign by justice and health advocates has called for the age to be raised to 14 in line with evidence about child development and international human rights standards.

Earlier this month a group of 60 organisations in the Aboriginal, legal, health, faith, youth, and human rights sectors have urged Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to immediately raise the age to 14, with no exceptions.

While Victoria has the lowest rate of young people in custody in the country (5.8 per 10,000 young people), Aboriginal young people in the state remain drastically over-represented in custody (28.3 per 10,000 young people).

First Peoples' Assembly Co-Chair and Bangerang and Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Geraldine Atkinson described the announcement as "heartbreaking".

"I have very mixed emotions, I'm trying to focus on the positive that the increase is a slight improvement of the barbaric practice of sending 10 year old children to prison, but 12 is not something to celebrate, it's not a welcome move," she said.

"All the experts say it should be at least 14. First Peoples, we've been very consistent in saying it needs to be at least 14. We know too well the damage that is inflicted when our children are removed from community.

"We have a Voice in Victoria and we've been using it - we've consistently and clearly urged the government to raise the age to at least 14 years of age. Instead they've gone with the worse standard permitted under international law."

The Age reports that a senior government source revealed Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes will tell her counterparts on Friday that the state will raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12, with a view to raising it to 14 in 2027. The senior source also said many ministers wanted the age of criminal responsibility to be lifted to 14, in line with calls from leading experts.

Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive, Yorta Yorta and Narrandjeri woman Nerita Waight, said earlier that implementing the recommendations of a report prepared by the Standing Council of Attorneys-General to raise the age to 14 would be an "important step" to reducing the number of children in prison.

"All the expert advice says that children under 14 years old do not have the capability to be criminally responsible and that prison only harms their development," she said.

"We know that prison is culturally damaging to Aboriginal children. It only traumatises them and undermines their biggest strengths - their connection to family, culture, and community.

"No child should be in prison and raising the age to at least 14 years old will be an important step towards giving every child a fair chance in life."

In August 2022, a petition was handed over signed by over 65,000 Victorian residents which called on the state government to raise the age to 14.

The Northern Territory has raised the age from 10 to 12, whilst the ACT has announced plans to introduce legislation to raise the age to 14 – with limited exceptions.

The Standing Council of Attorneys-General developed a proposal to raise the criminal age to 12 – against the recommendations in their own report – which said that the "Commonwealth, State and Territory governments should raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 14 years of age, without exception".

In December 2021, 32 health and medical organisations wrote to all Premiers, Attorneys-General, and Health Ministers stating there is medical consensus children under the age of 14 are undergoing significant growth and development, meaning they may not have the required capacity to be considered criminally responsible.

"The evidence overwhelmingly shows that when children in the very young age bracket of 10 to 13 years of age are forced through a criminal legal process during their formative developmental phases, they suffer immense and enduring harm," they wrote.