Aboriginal children should grow up with their family in safe and nurturing homes, connected to their culture and community, be supported to go to school, and learn from their mistakes so they can thrive. Today the Youth Justice Act 2024 will commence – meaning the criminal age of responsibility in Victoria has risen from 10 years old, to 12 years old. VALS, alongside the Aboriginal Justice Caucus, the Koorie Youth Council and the legal sector have long called for this reform, but it does not go far enough. Fundamentally, children do not belong in prison.
In June last year, Premier Allan abandoned the Government’s public promise that Victoria would raise the criminal age of responsibility to 14 years old by 2027 – bringing us into line with the ACT and international human rights standards. Instead of following the abundance of expert advice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, medical and child development experts, and legal and human rights groups on what works in supporting children, this government is forging a destructive path for our young people.
Prison is devastating for children, and has lifelong impacts on their health, development, mental health and wellbeing. Evidence shows that the earlier a child is locked away in prison, the more the child is at risk of being entrenched in the criminal legal system and re-criminalised later in life.
Locking up children does not work, yet Aboriginal children are overpoliced and overincarcerated. VALS has repeatedly advocated to bring attention to the horrors our children face in prison, including being subject to long periods of isolation in their cells and being deprived of food. Contact with the criminal legal system causes great harm to our children’s development and steals their opportunities to thrive. It also harms their families and communities causing generational trauma. Our children have a right to be connected to culture, community, and Country, but that right is taken away from too many of them.
Over three years ago, 65,799 Victorians signed a petition calling on the Victorian government to raise the age to 14 sending a clear message that children do not belong in prisons. It is abundantly clear that there is popular support for raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years old, and that’s exactly what a good government would do instead of breaking their promise.
The Federal Government’s failure to step in and raise the age across all states and territories has been widely criticised at the State, national and international level for failing to meet its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Countless recommendations made by the Yoorrook Justice Commission, numerous parliamentary inquiries, United Nations bodies, medical experts and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities all call on the vital need to raise the age to at least 14 and invest in genuine support, safety and stability for young people who come into contact with the criminal legal system.
Yet this Labor Government continues to pander to the police and conservative media instead of listening to the calls of thousands of Victorians, deepening their betrayal of Victoria’s children.
Quotes Attributable to Nerita Waight, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service:
“VALS welcomes today as recognition that children do not belong in jail cells, but it doesn’t go far enough. The Allan Labor government has been in a race to the bottom implementing regressive reforms. Today is no different, because as the age of criminal responsibility is raised, so too are further regressive bail laws introduced that we know will see more of our young people locked up.
Locking up children does not work. Our children deserve culturally safe, trauma informed prevention, early intervention and diversionary programs that respond to the underlying causes of offending or risk-taking behaviour, which Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are best placed to provide. We don’t see any announcement of those much-needed services today.
We have made it clear that our most vulnerable people in our community – our children – must be given opportunities to thrive on Country rather than be harmed in prison. Aboriginal communities have campaigned to raise the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 for many years now, alongside thousands of Victorians. We have been strong and clear in our voice and will continue to advocate for the age to be raised to at least 14 in the face of a dangerous prison system that this government is refusing to fix.”
MEDIA RELEASE 30 September 2025