00:00After a full day's debate, the government last night used its majority to enact a key
00:08election promise to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old, drawing a
00:14sharp response from the chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.
00:19Ten is really very low in world terms. It is quite shocking.
00:26The UN chair is now writing to the Prime Minister advising him that Australia is contravening
00:31its international obligations on the rights of children.
00:35What is particularly concerning is that once a state has committed itself and has actually
00:39set a minimum age, this idea of going back is what is, I would say, in contravention
00:47of the convention.
00:48Despite the ABC contacting the Prime Minister's office multiple times today, he didn't respond
00:54to requests for comments before deadline. The NT government says it plans to build
00:58diversionary boot camps as a sentencing option, but wouldn't say how or when they'd be delivered.
01:04The NT has by far Australia's highest rates of youth detention, and Indigenous children
01:10continue to make up the vast majority of those inside.
01:14While 10 is the minimum age children can be sent to jail in most of Australia, the previous
01:20NT Labor government raised the age to 12, and Tasmania and Victoria have committed to
01:25raising it.
01:26The fact that this law has been passed in the Northern Territory last night is evidence
01:32of the failure of all the other systems that should have helped these children and their
01:37families much, much earlier.
01:39I think it's really reducing our credit on an international stage, because when we know
01:43good laws are based on good evidence and good consultation, we're going to see better results
01:49for the Northern Territory.
01:50Outside a Darwin primary school, parents have mixed views on the change.
01:55Children need a bit of guidance sometimes, and I think lowering the age of criminal responsibility
02:00is not just about locking kids up, it's about getting the support they need.
02:04I don't see that as an option at all. If that is a law that is implemented, I would seriously
02:10consider going back to Europe, where I'm from.
02:13And it's interesting, because governments usually get criticised for failing to deliver,
02:17and our government is the opposite. We are being criticised for delivering on our commitments
02:23that we took to the election.
02:24With the laws now passed, the focus is on the impact.
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