Key points:

- A Representative Complaint has been filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission on behalf of roughly one hundred victims of alleged child sexual abuse in Western Australia's youth detention system

- Abuse allegations regarding WA's youth detention are long-standing, with a class action commencing in 2022, and 57 detailed complaints tabled in WA Parliament in 2023

- Lawyers allege the WA Government is well aware of the crisis in the system

Warning: this report contains references to sexual abuse.

A Representative Complaint has been filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission on behalf of roughly one hundred victims of alleged child sexual abuse in Western Australia's juvenile detention system, in which Indigenous children are drastically overrepresented, more than fifty of whom have provided "detailed and verifiable accounts".

Lawyers representing the group said on Wednesday that the Complaint, filed on May 8 this year, "provides considerable detail of serious sexual abuse by persons in positions of authority where their victims were below the age of consent".

"There are also instances cited where Youth Custodial Officers (YCOs) failed to prevent foreseeable sexual abuse of younger detainees by older detainees."

The Complaint filed by Levitt Robinson Solicitors of Sydney, who are running the Banksia Hill and Unit 18 Class Actions in the Federal Court of Australia at Perth, cites breaches of the federal Age Discrimination Act, Sex Discrimination Act, and Disability Discrimination Act.

The allegations of abuse include rape, and among the alleged perpetrators are Youth Custodial Officers and fellow detainees, but also medical officers, employed by the Western Australian Department of Justice.

Levitt Robinson Partner, Dana Levitt, who has personally interviewed some of the victims, said there are clusters of abuse which implicate the same perpetrators, repeatedly, and over the course of several years, against victims, who did not know one another.

"From my investigations, these detainees do not appear to have known each other and were not in detention during intersecting periods," she said.

One of the doctors cited in the Complaint, now deceased, has already been prosecuted, the law firm said.

WA Government is 'obviously alive to the problem', lawyers say

Ms Levitt said the Western Australian government is "obviously alive to the problem since it has listed Banksia Hill and Rangeview, among participating institutions in the National Redress Scheme", which relates to victims of institutional sexual abuse.

She cautioned victims who suffered sexual abuse in detention that if they were to accept an offer under the National Redress Scheme, they would be excluded from what she anticipates will be much greater compensation available through the Class Action which will be brought against the WA Government, if the AHRC conciliation process is unsuccessful.

She noted that the same applies to Group Members in the pending Banksia Hill and Unit 18 Class Actions.

The law firm said evidence has been collected of children being induced to provide sexual favours to Youth Custodial Officers, and others who have been told that they would never see their families and would be confined to solitary confinement for indefinite periods, if they did not submit to the YCOs' demands.

Ms Levitt said the alleged offences were "even more unconscionable, given the knowledge that YCOs and medical officers had of the intellectual and emotional disabilities of many of their young victims".

"There have been 'blind spots' throughout juvenile detention centres which have allowed this abuse to occur routinely in areas where YCOs knew that they could not be seen by CCTV," she said.

A spokesperson for the WA Department of Justice told National Indigenous Times the Department was "aware of the complaint filed with the Australian Human Rights Commission".

"As these matters are the subject of ongoing legal processes, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," they said.

"The Department takes the safety and wellbeing of young people in its care very seriously.

"The Department works closely with relevant oversight bodies, and where necessary WA Police, to ensure appropriate accountability and continuous improvement."

National Indigenous Times also contacted the Minister for Corrections for comment.

In May 2023, almost 60 complaints from children detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison revealing shocking details of alleged abuse were tabled in Western Australian parliament by Greens MP Dr Brad Pettitt.

Dr Pettitt delivered a Member Statement and tabled 58 letters written by the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA in the Upper House, including 57 complaint letters on behalf of children detained at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18, and one letter from ALSWA chief executive, Wayne Nannup, to Deputy Commissioner for Women and Young People, Christine Ginbey.