VIC Commissioner for Aboriginal Children & Young People resigns

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Victorian Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People has resigned. Meena Singh will finish up in four weeks after nearly four years in the role.

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00:00Meena Singh says that while she'll finish up in four weeks, the work is far from over,

00:07calling for much more to be done to address the over-representation of Aboriginal children

00:12and young people in out-of-home care and also in the youth justice system.

00:18And she says that the reason that she is quitting is simply that she is very tired

00:22from a particularly challenging year, having to perform not only her role as Indigenous

00:28Commissioner for Children and Young People, but also stepping up eight months ago into the role

00:34of Acting Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People in Victoria in the wake of a

00:39series of childcare scandals. And during that time, she had to leave the commission through

00:44intense public scrutiny and also significant regulatory change. However, it's clear that

00:50what's also taken its toll is the policy changes when it comes to the crackdown on youth crime and

00:57young offending. And most recently, that was with Jacinta Allen, the Premier's announcement of a

01:05proposed new law, which she has dubbed Adult Time for Violent Crime, which could see children,

01:12young offenders aged as young as 14 being potentially jailed for life for violent carjackings and violent

01:19home invasions. Now, Ms Singh has heavily criticised this policy change and she says it's always

01:27difficult to watch as the government decides to enact these sorts of proposals that don't appear to be

01:34evidence-based. It really does take its toll when you continually see legislation and announcements that

01:42disproportionately impact on Aboriginal children and young people. I really worry for what treating

01:50children as adults as adults will do for those children individually, but does for us as a community.

01:56I think it really distracts from the fact that every child needs safety and care.

02:03Ms Singh says the children who go through the juvenile justice system are often those who have already led

02:10very difficult lives. And what they need is to be cared and protected and also nurtured

02:17in preventative programs to stop them from leading further into a life of crime rather than punitive

02:24punishment. She says that these proposed changes are not going to make Victoria a safer place to live.

02:32And the fact that she has resigned now means that we are still without a permanent chief principal

02:40commissioner for children and young people here, even though that acting position has been taken over

02:46by someone else. However, we still don't know who is going to take over the area which she looks after,

02:54which is really focused on the interest of Indigenous children and young people, because she only announced

03:00her resignation yesterday afternoon.

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